A Sitch in Time
by kaihil lover
Summary: Stuck in a warped up time stream with nothing making sense anymore, Kai and Hiromi have to win a race against time to defend their past, bring their present back to normal and salvage their not-so-certain-anymore future. KaiHil
1. I'm Moving Where?

**Friday, 17th June 2011 02:30 A.M.**

**I know I should be updating, 'Runaway Hilary' but I just got this idea and I just couldn't help jot it down. =D I was listening to music on my iPod and an old Kim Possible song started playing. I started feeling nostalgic and put on a 'Sitch in Time' on YouTube. When I was watching, in my mind the story, somehow was linking to Beyblade. Now, one thing I'd like to mention the story won't be exactly the same, its roughly based on the movie. And the character's character will not be the same. What I am trying to explain is Kai who is based on Kim, he might do stuff which Ron did. I know sounds confusing, you'll understand it, eventually.**

**Oh, by the way, I've always liked the name Hiromi better than Hilary, so I will be using it instead of Hilary. =D The rest of the names will remain the same as they were in the English version.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Beyblade or Kim Possible. :(**

**Enough of my ramblings, on with the fic. =D**

* * *

><p><strong>A Sitch in Time<strong>

"We have _all_ classes together, _all_ day together; it's like a Pre K flashback," Tyson said, pumping his fist in air and twirling around Max.

"You, Kenny and Hiromi were together in Pre K?" Max inquired, "I thought you and 'Romi hated each other before she joined the team."

"The three of us were together," Tyson replied, when he stopped twirling, but the smile never left his lips, "and were great friends. But after Pre K it was all downhill."

Tyson paused, thinking about the all the times they had together.

"But we're friends again and it'll be like Pre K all over," he continued. "And this time, you guys are gonna be here too!"

Max and Tyson high fived each other.

"Though, without the naptimes." Kenny declared, smiling at the memory.

"Ahhh, nap time, you don't know what you've got until it's gone!" Tyson sighed, "But still this is gonna be a great year; aren't you guys psyched, I'm sure even you are happy, right, Kai? Kai…"

Tyson turned around and saw Kai and Hiromi walking a little behind him and the rest "Ughhh, would you two snap out of your own little world for two seconds and listen to me?" The two continued walking oblivious to Tyson's jabbering. "Hello, Earth to Kai and Hiromi, are you two even listening, you two are not even listening when I'm telling you that you're not listening! Are you two deliberately doing this to annoy me?"

Hiromi diverted her eyes towards Tyson; she put both her hands on her waist and spoke, "No, we've suddenly gone deaf!"

"Were you being sarcastic?" Tyson asked, sincerely.

Hiromi internally shook her head at how naïve Tyson could be at times, "Yes, Tyson, I was being sarcastic."

"We were trying to ignore your blabbing," Kai smirked. "but you're just too loud and boisterous to ignore."

"Jerk Face," Tyson stated, flatly.

"But you know you love me." Kai chided.

Tyson hmphed, "OK, wise guys. What was I saying then?"

"The little baby was saying how much he missed nap time." Hiromi said, sticking her tongue out at Tyson. "But I think the naptime void will be filled with Latin, which reminds me; we're taking Latin, why?" She started glowering at Tyson.

"Are you kidding? I'm psyched about Latin; the salsa eating, the salsa dancing, the other dances, the rumba, the mambo, the danza, the meringue," Tyson screamed happily, "I already have a project idea; the down low on J-Lo!"

"Tyson, this is Latin class, as in the language….." Hiromi stated.

"The dead language!" Kenny informed.

Tyson's eyes widened, "No salsa?"

"No J-Lo." Kai replied, with a smirk before quietly reaching down to take Hiromi's hand in his. She blushed a little before inter-lacing her fingers with his.

"No matter, we're in it together and that's what counts, right?" Tyson replied, refusing to feel down, "And this is still gonna be the greatest year ever!"

"I think, he's right." Kai smiled. "This will be a great year; we'll all be together."

They all stared with shock at their team captain; what had he just said?

"What?"

"Did you just agree with Tyson?" Ray asked, astonished.

"And did you just say you were happy spending time with us?" Max wondered.

"Yes, I did; I'm not that bad, you know." Kai argued, defending himself. "Besides, I really think this is gonna be a good year."

"Kai's right, it's off to an amazing start, we didn't go back to our own home towns, we are all staying together, and we are in the same school this year…" Max gave Tyson a look.

"What? It wasn't my fault that I forgot to register Ray, Daichi and you for school last year and you had to go to that school on the other side of town and besides, Kai decided to go to his old private school on his own will." Tyson argued, crossing his arms.

Kai had only decided to agree to attend public school because Hiromi had asked him and he couldn't find it in himself to refuse her. He thought he was gonna hate it, but spending more time with her and the other made it worthwhile and so did seeing her happy. If only the fan girls would stop drooling….. Seeing Hiromi happy, even made the annoying love notes from the over obsessed fan girls seem nothing. Never having anyone care about him as a child made him value his friends and Hiromi a lot, even though it took him a while to realize how much he cared for them; he eventually did. They meant a lot to him, he didn't deny himself that.

"Whatever, Tyson. It _was_ your fault," said Max, "But other than that, we really are off to an amazing start!"

By this time they were near Hiromi's place. Her parents had been in town for almost a week and she'd not been staying at the dojo so she could spend some quality time with them. But they were all surprised, how come they had been staying so long; usually they left before two days were over. Their jobs kept them really busy.

"Yeah and all of our old evil baddies are in jail, nothing can go wrong!" Daichi stated, cheerfully.

Even Kai felt relaxed. The abbey had been reformed into a blading school by the Blitzkrieg boys, the labs for testing on students had been bombarded and completely destroyed by Ian. The kid loves his explosives. Kai had gotten Voltaire and Boris arrested, finally, last year for all the illegal things they had done. Voltaire due to his power and influence in Russia couldn't be gotten hanged and he got Boris bailed from his death sentence as well, but they were in jail for life and Kai was in charge of the Hiwatari Enterprises. All the other psychopaths they had faced were also in jail. Things, all around, were going really well, though.

"For once, all signs are actually good." Kai stated and he seemed genuinely happy.

"Yup, the future is totally bright," Hiromi said, leaning away from Kai now that they had neared her house. Hesitantly, she let go of Kai's hand and walked ahead of all of them. It was when they reached her front door, did Ray saw a signboard on the mail box and suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He turned towards the others and spoke with hesitation, "Um, Hiromi, what's that?"

They all followed Ray's eyes towards the sign and their eyes widened.

"For sale," Hiromi uttered, in disbelief.

Just then a man in his young thirties walked his way between the group of teens. He had a shrewd expression on his face; you could easily believe him to be a con man who'd swindle you out of every cent you own. "I'm sorry there has been a terrible mistake," He stated, politely. He took a large tape type thing which had something written on it and pasted it on the signboard.

"Phew," Hiromi sighed, "'cause I thought…."

Just then the man moved out of the way and they all went wide eyed.

"Sold!" Hiromi yelled.

"Sold," Kai stated, flatly, with no concern in his voice, whatsoever but internally, he was yelling.

"Sold," Tyson and Max mumbled, choking on the candy bars they were eating.

"Sold," the man who was they now realized to be a real estate agent confirmed.

"I'm moving?" Hiromi stated, clearly traumatized.

* * *

><p>"Why didn't you tell me?" Hiromi yelled, incensed.<p>

"Honey, this was our way of telling you," her dad told her, reaching out to pat her shoulders.

Hiromi gaped at him unbelievably after shrugging his hand away.

"We thought it'd be easier this way," her mother said, trying to comfort her daughter, though knowing she was probably making things worse. Hiromi looked at her in a you're-kidding-me way, "For us!"

"You see," she explained when Hiromi continued glaring at her. "Out of the blue, the head of our corporation got changed. Then, instead of wanting us to do projects in different countries, our boss, Ms. Katiya, wants us to work there with her, at the home office."

"Where's the home office?" Hiromi asked, desperately.

"Norway," her parents said.

She blinked at her, wanting so much to believe she'd heard wrong but her parent's solemn expression made her think otherwise.

"Norway?" Hiromi shrieked, feeling like crying already. _They couldn't..._

Meanwhile the bladebreakers were all in the other room, trying desperately to eavesdrop in on the conversation. All of them, except Kai -who was sitting at the one of the dining table chairs, looking equally as anxious as anyone else- had their ears pressed to the door.

"Max, you're stepping on my foot!" Tyson whisper-yelled.

"Well you're elbowing my kidney!" Max retorted.

"Will the two of you shut up so we can actually hear something?" Ray reprimanded.

"Why are they talking so softly? This is so rude." Tyson complained.

"They don't know we're trying to listen here!" Kenny stated, he was on his toes trying to get space to press his ear to the door, to listen to what Hiromi and her parents were talking about.

"They should be more considerate. Don't they know anyone can be eavesdropping in on their conversation anytime? Do they _know_ how much inconvenient it is to speak so softly?"

All of them sweat dropped.

Kai silently rolled his eyes but his thoughts were else-where. He couldn't believe his Hiromi was leaving him. This was not happening.

'Why does is it that whenever I care about someone, they have to leave me?' He thought.

He was determined, though, that if she _did_ leave, then he or the other guys won't let something like distance come between them and Hiromi. And for all they knew, her parents might just be selling the house 'cause they never seem to stay here. But that was just him being optimistic, because if he was being realistic, by the looks of how long their private conversation had been going, it seemed unlikely.

He felt lost; it wasn't going well and it ached all the more that, just like always, he had no power to control anything. His frown was getting more apparent by the second as he tried to contemplate on the scenario at hand. He and Hiromi had become really close friends over the years and even though they might never admit it, they really liked each other more than friends. But, at the moment, they were happy just the way things were. So, Kai had no idea how to react. She was moving away... the person who meant so much to the Bladebreaker captain, who meant the world to him, was leaving... He had no idea what he was going to do, and this feeling of helplessness was just too much to take than anything else.

Suddenly, the door slammed and he looked up at the noise- he guessed that it was probably Hiromi- to see all the guys lying on the floor, atop each other. Tyson was at the bottom of the heap on top of who was Max, and Kenny was on top of the pile clutching Dizzy possessively. Ray had fallen down on the side and Hiromi's Mum and Dad were just staring blankly down at them.

Kai rolled his eyes.

"Jeez, don't you people know the meaning of knocking?" Tyson asked, ignoring the irony of the sentence. "Get the hell of me, you idiots!"

He pushed Max and Kenny off of him, causing them to end up falling on Ray.

"Ouch," groaned the neko-jin, "Yeah, we're the idiots, of course, Tyson!" he said, sarcastically while standing up.

"Sorry kids," Mr. Tachibana said, "I don't think she took that well."

"Well duh!" Tyson said, "So what, exactly, is going on?"

"You didn't hear?" Mrs. Tachibana inquired, raising her eye-brows before sweat-dropping.

"Since you people have no sense of respect for eavesdroppers and were speaking too soft; no, we didn't."

"Well, we - and 'we' includes Hilary- are moving to Norway." Mrs. Tachibana said, looking nervous at the very thought of their reaction.

"Norway!" They all shrieked, even Kai, though instead of yelling he said it in a solemn way. For the first time in years his face lost its composure and suddenly, he felt sick.

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><p><strong>Well, people, I hope you liked it. =D Please review!<strong>

**Major props to my dear friend Dead-by-n0w beta reading this despite having a major important test to prepare for. You're the best. ^_^ Show her some love people and read and review her stories. Please... ^_^**

**Before I forget thank you to everyone who read my one shot 'Somewhere in Time' and a major thank you to _Tyhiltwilover_ (Exams are officially over! =D), Maryyum (Dead-by-n0w_), Kiray Himawari, __Honeygirl _(Since, you left an anonymous review and I had no way to respond to you here it is: I updated the other story (Runaway Hilary) that day only. So, if wou want you can read it. I totally agree Tyson and Hilary are totally like brother and sister.), _Shiningheart of Thunderclan _and COOlzAnimeaDDict. You guys are great. =D**

**Later, people...**


	2. Adjusting or Not!

**A Sitch in Time**

**Adjusting... or Not!**

"Life, as we know it, is over, people!" Hiromi moaned in a solemn voice; banging her head on the dojo table.

"Aren't you overreacting a wee bit?" Ray asked.

"Fine," Hiromi looked up, "_my_life is over." Hiromi said emphasizing on 'my'. After all, she thought, it wouldn't make a difference if she left; it wasn't as if she beybladed or anything. The thing she was upset over was that she didn't know if she could survive without her best friends. Would they lose contact? What if they forgot about her? It wasn't as if they needed her or anything…

"The perfect school year just went down the tube," Hiromi groaned, leaning back against the chair she was sitting on. "And it took my job as the team's coach along with it."

Tyson made a sound like a toilet being flushed, and everyone glared at him. Except Hiromi, though, who was just so upset about leaving, that even Tyson's annoying antics seemed bearable to her. She knew that she'd even miss those normally-irritating actions.

"That sound expresses the situation quite well, Tyson." Hiromi admitted, visibly sulking. She had been leaning so much that she was almost to the floor now.

"What do you mean?" Max asked, ignoring Tyson. The annoyance he was feeling at Hiromi's behavior was evident in his tone.

"Tyson, he sounded just like something being flushed down a toilet," Hiromi stated monotonously, "My life's being flushed down the toilet, too."

"No," Kai _ who had been quite since they got back to the dojo _ finally snapping at Hiromi's words, spoke up, "He meant, what do you mean by this being the end of you being part of the team?"

Hiromi, who was sitting on the chair next to Kai, looked up at him from where she was hunched downwards.

"Well," she started, "how are we gonna make training and tournaments work from different continents?"

"Hiromi," Tyson began in a comforting tone, "It'll be tough but doable, definitely doable. You can watch the training sessions from your computer and as for the tournaments, you are gonna come to them with us just like you do now."

Hiromi sat up straight, puffing her cheeks in distress.

"We couldn't be beyblade or be world champions without you, 'Romi," Kai said softly; he couldn't believe she was thinking this way…again. Her leaving the team was tearing them _all_ apart, why couldn't she see that? He sighed, placing a hand on Hiromi's. No one saw that little gesture, considering both their hands were under the table but he felt her relax a little at the warm touch.

"We have a week till you leave, right?" Daichi began, "So, we shouldn't be mourning, but making the best of it!"

"Right," Kenny chirped, happily, "We won't train this week—"

Tyson interrupted him and looked over to Kai, "If that's alright with you, oh snooty and almighty captain?"

Kai glared at him, but nodded.

"—Great, we'll spend this whole time with you, 'Romi," Kenny finished.

"You guys are the best, you know that?" Hiromi almost whimpered, smiling.

* * *

><p>The next six days, the Bladebreakers spent the entire time visiting places with Hiromi and just enjoying each other's company. Now it was Sunday, and Hiromi was to leave for the airport in the evening. There was an air of edginess, an atmosphere of vacillation in the room where they sat for breakfast. None of them felt hungry, though; they just sat picking at their food. Hiromi eyed all of them nervously; mostly Kai, though. The past week, along with spending a lot of time with the whole team, Hiromi had spent a lot of time with Kai. They spent half the night outside the dojo just talking to each other.<p>

"So," Hiromi began trying to break the awkward silence. Everyone looked at her with a penetrating gaze, as if silently asking her why she was talking. As if at a mournful day like it was, there was no need for the silence to be broken. When she looked at Kai who was sitting in front of her; she flinched at how intensely he was staring at her.

Ray noticing Hiromi's discomfort, and knowing that her leaving obviously wasn't her fault; he made an attempt to smooth things down a bit.

"So, 'Romi," Ray stated casually, "Do you want us to come with you to the airport?"

"I don't think so, Ray," Hiromi started in a small voice, "It'd be more awful for me if you guys were there, I think I'm gonna say goodbye right now."

With that reply, things grew quiet again. A few minutes later, Kai abruptly stood up from his chair; the sudden noise made Max drop his spoon. All of them looked up to see him walk his way out of the room, without so much as a single word of explanation before shutting the door loudly behind himself. They were all aware that he had not taken Hiromi's leaving lightly. She was the closest of the very few friends he had…And everyone was pretty much aware of the increasing chemistry between the both of them as well –no matter how much they tried to deny it – so it must've upset him to know that she was leaving.

Hiromi sighed and got up from the table.

"I think I'm gonna go and see if he's alright," Hiromi mumbled before walking off, without waiting for a reply. No one intended on saying anything anyways.

When Hiromi had walked out of the sliding dojo doors, she looked up to the sky; it made her want to smile, despite herself. She was going to miss the Japanese morning. Norway, in the midst of winter, barely had what you'd call an enjoyable sunshine.

She looked around, but found Kai nowhere in sight. She turned around on her heels, and walked towards the backyard, where he saw him sitting on the grassy field, leaning against what was the only tree in the entire garden. She hesitated for a while, feeling remorseful, before she walked over and sat down right beside him.

He said nothing.

"Are you mad at me?" her voice was slow, almost muted. When Kai heard it, he immediately looked at her.

"No," He said, sighing. "Of course not, 'Romi."

Hiromi wanted to protest, but there was something in Kai's eyes that made her stop. He was…sad.

"Try not to walk off all the time, kay?" Hiromi said, her voice quivering towards the end, "I'm not gonna be here to run off and look for you."

Kai nodded, a smile on his face already.

"And make sure you don't do anything stupid." Hiromi finished, tears blinding her vision and she blinked them back. Kai didn't answer, and for a while, there was silence.

Then, Hiromi suddenly got up, and in a grim voice that matched her expression, she said,

"I think I'm gonna go check my bags Kai," she motioned towards the exit of the dojo with her thumb, "Mom and dad are gonna be here to pick me up after a while."

Kai, when he heard her say that, felt a blow of misery shoot through him. He stood up and moved closer to Hiromi, taking her by surprise. Then, with slow deliberation, he put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him.

He, then, said the words he had wanted to say to her all week, but had thought it hard to. It surprised him, the easiness with which they came.

"I'll miss you, 'Romi," he whispered, yet again, leaving Hiromi stunned. This would have seemed out of character to anyone who heard it, but Hiromi knew that Kai had meant every single word. She'd always seen through his mask of indifference, and he'd always been ready to show her what he felt. She knew he cared, but somehow, it was just making things so hard; both of them felt so miserable about leaving each other.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, pulling away and breaking the hug. Without waiting to contemplate on Kai's dumbfounded expression, she turned around and ran all the way back to the dojo, tears falling freely from her eyes.

She never knew that he'd felt so intensely, and somehow, seeing him expose himself like that–even though there were countless times he'd done so –broke her heart more than anything else.

* * *

><p>"C'mon, Hiromi, let's move," Hiromi's dad, who was sitting in the front of a moving van, told his daughter, "Five hours early for international flights. C'mon boys, it's not like you're never gonna see her again."<p>

He looked impatiently at the Blade Breakers, who had been lecturing and saying goodbye to Hiromi for the past half hour. But Hiromi was barely listening to them; she kept looking towards the side of the dojo to see if Kai would show up. She hadn't seen him since she'd run back to the dojo a few hours ago, and she wondered if he was doing okay.

"No going out or being friends with anyone, who is immature," Ray kept warning her about safety issues, "or too much mature or has piercings or has gotten detention. Stay away if that person has any jail records, has committed murder and especially if he has less than A+ average…"

"Ray, none of my current friends have A+ average," Hiromi interrupted him, "except a few, of course, and some of them are even flunking," she smirked, looking towards Tyson who was innocently grinning right back.

"If I remember correctly," Hiromi continued, "Max, Tyson and Daichi are more immature than a five year old. Not to mention Kai and the other Blitzkrieg boys know more about weapons than a normal person their age. Kai has his ear pierced, and even Kenny, you and I have gotten detention!"

Hiromi rolled her eyes, before continuing,

"And we all have had Jail records, though I'm sure I probably won't meet any one else with jail records, anyway."

"We didn't get into jail for anything wrong," Ray said, defensively, "Those cops assumed that we were working for Voltaire!"

"Well, they assumed because we _do_ have breaking and entering records." Hiromi retorted musing about the many times she and the guys' had snuck into places. Especially high security places.

"'Romi, we are trust worthy, how can I trust you with people I haven't met?" Ray argued, "I just want you to be safe, alright,"

Then, he was serious again, before pulling her into a hug.

"Be careful, promise?" he whispered

"I promise." Hiromi murmured right back, before pulling away.

"Don't forget to brush and floss your teeth." Kenny reminded her, "Or do you homework."

Hiromi groaned.

"Don't forget _not_ to try to cook either," Tyson added with a grin, "We don't want you burning all of Norway,"

"We're really gonna miss you, grandma," Daichi said, though, he was trying hard not to tear up.

Hiromi slapped him on the head, but then ruffled his hair.

"Don't forget to call us," Tyson reminded her, "And don't act like a big know-it-all over at your new school or you'll end up as the wicked witch there as well."

"I would have taken that personally but I'm in no mood to," Hiromi grinned, despite of the tears which had begun to leak from her eyes.

"That's no fun," Tyson grumbled, before pulling her into a comforting hug.

"Don't forget to take a daily 3 pound intake of sugar either, 'Romi, I'm not gonna be there to make sure you get an inappropriate intake of sugar every day." Max finished, and pulled 'Romi into a tight bear hug.

"Yeah, and eating as much candy as you do and then getting sugar high every day is a very important thing, Max," Kenny muttered, sarcastically.

"It is," Max protested, he was still strangling Hiromi.

"Can't breathe," Hiromi barely spit out and Max let go of her.

"She's not going off to war you know," Hiromi's dad, who'd been watching the exchange with amusement, yelled from the van. He knew how much pain his daughter and her friends were, but he couldn't help laugh at how emotional they were being. For a second, he thought that maybe he didn't completely understand how much they cared for each other, that they were more of a family to each other than maybe he himself was to his daughter. But the way they were saying their goodbyes, it was like they were never gonna see her again. If he knew his daughter, then she'd probably be visiting Japan every other weekend, with the excuse of having to prepare them for the tournament.

He wanted to leave her with the Bladebreakers, she had been living with them for 5 years, but oddly, he and his wife's boss had strictly stated that the whole family would have to stay there. This was something which worried him, Hiromi's older sister would also be coming to stay with them; she wasn't too thrilled about moving either. She did not like the idea of switching college. Her dad did find their boss's request of the whole family being there as weird, but he had decided to shrug it off.

Hiromi hugged the boys one last time. She looked back towards the side of the dojo to make sure one last time that Kai wasn't coming. She knew he was upset but she didn't think that he wouldn't even show up to say goodbye. Apparently it looked as if he wouldn't.

Ray saw this and felt agitated towards Kai. Why did that sourpuss had to act so distant, anyway?

"I'm sure he's just upset, 'Romi," Ray whispered to Hiromi, "When he gets home I'll tell him to call, 'kay?"

"It's alright, Ray," Hiromi stated, "I already said goodbye to him, I was just a bit worried, just make sure he's okay,"

"Jeez, 'Romi, what are you, his mother?" Tyson joked, but when he saw the solemn look on his friends' face, he snapped his mouth shut.

"Bye guys," Hiromi said, walking backward towards the van. "I'll miss you."

Then with a quick movement she got inside the van. She didn't dare to look back. The boys kept waving till the van turned the corner of the street.

* * *

><p>Hiromi was standing at the airport, tapping her foot impatiently. Her father was too paranoid about being on time, hence they had reached the airport much too early.<p>

"Hiromi, I'm sure you'll make great friends in Norway," Mr. Tatibana said in an encouraging voice. "And soon you won't even miss the Bladebreakers."

Hiromi's mom slapped her forehead and as soon as Hiromi's Dad realized why she'd done so, he bit his tongue in reflex, knowing he was in trouble.

"Mom," Hiromi cried, "First he makes me leave my friends, and now he wants me to forget about them!"

Mrs. Tatibana glared at her husband who gave her a helpless look.

"Honey," he began, "What I meant to say was you can't spend your life thinking about the Bladebreakers and not make…"

"What?" Hiromi whined.

"What I meant to…" Hiromi's dad broke up in mid sentence, when his wife put a hand on his shoulder.

"What he's trying to say is that you're gonna be friends with the Bladebreakers forever, but while there not here with you, you should try to enjoy yourself with other people."

"I guess, you're right, mom," Hiromi sighed, "Why did you have to say it in such a mean way?" She glared at her father.

"What?" Mr. Tatibana went wide eyed. "I said the same thing, more or less…"

"Mom, you're so much more helpful than dad," Hiromi smiled.

Mrs. Tatibana smirked at her husband.

"It's not a competition, you know?" Mr. Tatibana muttered.

"If it was, she'd win!" Hiromi stuck her tongue out at her dad.

Her dad raised his hands in the air in defeat, and watched Hiromi as she walked off, heaving her bag behind her, to lean on a pillar.

"She's not gonna be happy when she finds out her sister is gonna be there, is she?" Mr. Tatibana asked himself out loud.

"Should we tell her now?" Mrs. Tatibana wondered.

"We'll let her find out herself, that way it'd be easier," Mr. Tatibana said with a nervous smile. He was still looking at his daughter who was visibly grieving over leaving her friends.

"For us," Mrs. Tatibana muttered, smirking.

"Is she waiting for someone?" Mr. Tatibana questioned his wife.

Mrs. Tatibana gave a knowing smirk before answering, "I'm guessing she's waiting for her friend, Kai."

"She didn't mention that he was gonna come, besides why didn't he say goodbye to her at Mr. Kinomiya's dojo?"

Mrs. Tatibana gave another smirk,

"I don't think he's told her that he's gonna come, but she wants him to show up. Maybe the two got into an argument? Who knows, maybe it'd be better if the two of them said goodbye or they'd both feel guilty about it."

"I don't know her friends but she can handle it!" Mr. Tatibana muttered, earning a meaningful laugh from his wife. "I don't like that boy, anyways."

"You don't like that boy or you don't like that your daughter likes that boy?"

"Hiromi doesn't…" Before he could finish Mrs. Tatibana walked off towards the confectionery stand, laughing at her husband's naïveté.

Hiromi was leaning on pillar, in a very Kai like position, her bag on her side. She felt upset that she hadn't gotten to say goodbye to Kai, she was also really mad at him for not showing up. He shouldn't have been so inconsiderate. Hadn't he realized how terrible she must have been feeling having to leave? And instead of trying to console her, he hadn't even shown up to say goodbye. She felt worried that her friends would forget about her. How long would they keep up the long distance thing, anyway? She felt tears coming already.

"I'm sorry," She heard someone say. For a moment she thought that she had imagined it, but soon, she felt a presence next to her and she snapped open her eyes.

"Well," he urged, raising an eyebrow and smirking slightly. He was leaning right next to her, on the same pillar, their shoulders touching.

"What?" Hiromi snapped, closing her eyes again. She felt relieved that he was here, but it did not mean that she wasn't mad at him anymore for disappearing like that. She had been going crazy for the last three hours, thinking that she'd have to leave without even seeing him one last time.

Kai chuckled a bit. "You know, you should be grateful that I said that."

"Said what?"

"You know what I meant," Kai's voice showed embarrassment and hint of agitation.

"Afraid to admit that you apologized?" Hiromi let out a snicker.

Kai growled, "Fine, I'm sorry,"

"I never told you to apologize again," Hiromi said in a low voice and when Kai saw her teasing expression turn serious, he frowned.

"I shouldn't have disappeared like that," Kai spoke, putting a hand on Hiromi's arm and turning her slightly towards him, "I want to say goodbye properly, now."

"That's okay," Hiromi looked up at him, "What do you want to say, Kai?"

"That I'll miss you," He said the words, and even though they were equally as easy to admit as they had been before, but he was still glad that no-one was there to hear them; part of the plan, being alone to say goodbye, was just this.

Hiromi smiled, before looking over Kai's shoulders to see her parents waving towards her. She sighed, and pulled Kai into a big hug. She whispered the words he'd said to her back at him and Kai could only nod as she did. He stared at her back, as she reached her parents. He could almost hear Mr. Tatibana ranting to his wife, having a classic over-protective father moment when he had watched his daughter hug Kai. Her father didn't know that Kai and the other Bladebreakers were more over-protective towards her then he would ever be. He hadn't seen what they had done to her poor last date. The boy had to transfer schools, so the Bladebreakers wouldn't hurt him for being in the same class as Hiromi.

But jokes aside, he watched as Hiromi waved over to him one last time. He couldn't help but realize that, right then, for the first time ever; Hiromi had been the one walking off from Kai, instead of the other way around.

He stood there, as the doors closed in on Hiromi's face, and for a second, he thought they'd open up again, and maybe she'd come back.

But that never happened….

* * *

><p>The next day, the second Monday of the new school year, the Bladebreakers – minus their coach – were having their breakfast, though they were pretty much sulking and moping more than eating. It was a very different scene from the previous Monday, when they were all excited and exultant. So, much had changed in the last seven days….<p>

At that moment Hiro Granger burst through the door. After the defeat of BEGA, the traitor had started working for the BBA. The whole team had been against Mr. Dickenson for hiring Hiro, but he still believed that Hiro had a lot of potential. Hiro lived in his own apartment instead of the dojo. If he'd live there, he'd probably have ended up with a few broken bones probably by his own brother or maybe even Kai. Besides, the Bladebreakers and Hiro both had enough of their own messes and didn't want the constant bickering.

"Hey guys," Hiro said, happily. A bright smile was plastered on his face. He walked over to his brother and ruffled his hair. Tyson visible recoiled at this; he still hadn't forgiven his brother for his betrayal at the time of BEGA.

"I know you guys don't like me, but seriously, there's no reason to be this glum," Hiro sighed, his voice showing fake sadness.

"Hey little dudes," Grandpa Grander said walking into the room, with his mug of coffee. When he saw Hiro he hugged him, though it was a one sided one since Hiro was trying to wriggle out of his grandfather's grasp, but then saw the glum faces of the Bladebreakers and felt sorry for them. He knew how much the guys were missing Hiromi because he missed her too. So, he released Hiro from his death grip and walked over to the table.

"You really miss, home girl, don't you?" Grandpa asked concern for the boys evident in his voice.

"Miss who?" Hiro prompted curiously, moving closer to the table.

"Yeah," Tyson muttered, "I mean all the times I yelled at her to leave, and when she does leave I feel like crap."

"Who leaves?" Hiro asked again, sounding like a kid.

"Though how can you miss her? She calls every five minutes…" Grandpa smirked.

"You know what, I'm not even gonna ask this time!" Hiro muttered.

The others still ignored him. Hiro's eyes suddenly drifted to a book on the table next to Tyson's cereal bowl.

"You're studying Latin, why?" Hiro asked, incredulously.

"She said the same thing when she found out," Max sighed, he had almost brought a spoon full of cereal near his mouth but he kept waving it in air."It was Tyson's stupid idea, he thought we'd be studying Latin dances, Latin cooking and doing projects on Jennifer Lopez."

"Who said it? Who left? Will you people please tell me?" Hiro complained.

"I wish she was here to suffer with me," Tyson griped on.

"Who was here?" Hiro yelled, really getting exasperated here. "You know what? Forget it! I'll ask Hiromi."

He looked around for a while,

"Where is she, anyways?"

"Are you really this dense that you still haven't figured it out?" Kai grumbled, glaring at Hiro.

Hiro just glared back at him in response.

"Hiromi left, Hiro," Ray said in a low voice, "Her parents moved to Norway and she had to go too."

"She left?" Hiro said, his voice showing honest concern. "I'm sorry for you guys."

"I still don't get how they miss her when she calls every five minutes," Grandpa repeated to his elder grandson, laughing and shaking his head.

The moment he finished his sentence, there was a beep on a cell phone which was on the table.

"Right on time," Grandpa Granger chortled.

"Hey 'Romi," Everyone around the table chorused as they saw Hiromi's picture, she was still on the plane. Kai smiled.

"I can't live like this!" Hiromi shouted, in the mouth piece of her cell phone.

"Uh, 'Romi, you're not gonna be living in that plane," Tyson snickered, sarcastically.

"I can't live anywhere without you guys!" Hiromi screamed, getting weird looks from people around her. "Excuse me!" she yelled, looking at everyone who was staring at her. The Bladebreakers and Hiro flinched at the shrillness of her voice. Then she turned back to her phone. "I don't care if I have to live in the plane as long as you people are with me!" she cried, "_Please_, get me out of here…"

"I'm sure once you'll actually reach Norway, you'll adjust," Ray suggested focusing on the bright side of things.

"I don't wanna!" Hiromi groaned, banging her head on her cell phone screen, making it impossible for the Bladebreakers to see her distraught face.

"'Romi," Hiro said, coming into view. "I can't believe you left without saying goodbye to me!"

She leaned in on her chair, "Trust me Hiro; I barely had time to convince _myself_ that I'm leaving!"

Hiro didn't get a chance to reply, the milk and cereal in the spoon which Max was waving around fell to the floor with a splash. All eyes were diverted towards the stain on the floor.

"Really, Max?" Kai asked, sarcastically.

"Let me guess, he spilt something," Hiromi said in an intentional tone.

"What did you expect?" Kai asked her.

Hiromi let out a fake sigh. "I was hoping that maybe it was something else, when will I learn?"

Kai smiled in response.

"Tyson," Hiromi said suddenly in a very serious tone, "Don't lick it of the floor, K?" she said the last few words between fits of giggles.

Tyson hmphed and muttered something about not being_that_ desperate to eat. Hiromi rolled her eyes. The others sweat dropped at Hiromi's sudden outburst, they had, from her tone, expected her to say something very imperative and foremost, not for her to tease Tyson.

There was silence for a second, and then Hiromi suddenly shrieked,

"Eww!"

From the tiny screen of the cell phone they saw her got off of her seat in shock. As she disappeared from view they saw that a 4 year old kid who was sitting next to her had spilt his milk all over her seat.

Tyson and Daichi laughed at this while the others stiffed their chuckles. Kai couldn't help the bemused laugh that escaped his lips…How ironic…

"Ahh," Hiromi whined, coming back into view. "Please, get me out of here!"

At that moment Kenny glanced at the clock and cried in astonishment, "Oh my God, we're late!" He turned towards Hiromi, "'Romi, we're really late! We'll talk to you later! Focus on the movie, K?"

"Fine," Hiromi mumbled. She then switched off her cell, and ebbed from view.

As the Bladebreakers began scattering around the room, gathering their stuff, Kai's cell phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and as soon as the picture appeared on the screen, Kai drew back a little; her face was much too close.

"The movie's in Norwegian," she cried, "or French, I don't know!"

Kai sighed, "'Romi, I have to go to school, just try to cope, alright?"

Hiromi heaved a sigh. "Fine," she whimpered and then vanished from view.

Kai sighed. It had been one day and he already missed her like hell. He didn't know how he was going to take this.

* * *

><p>Kai was sitting in class, pretty much completely bored since First Period Physics was the only class in which none of the others were with him. Hiromi was supposed to be in that class, but she wasn't even in the same country anymore.<p>

He kept sighing and glancing at the empty seat next to him, trying to avoid the giggling and pointing he kept hearing. He tried to ignore the notes all the girls were throwing at him. Whenever, one landed on his desk, he'd just crumble it and throw it on the floor, feeling satisfied. This is how he was coping, throwing love notes onto the floor. He wondered why he had left his all boys' school.

'Hiromi', his mind concluded. He sighed internally, wishing that she was here with him, to make his experience a little less horrible. Her being there with his would make it_a lot_less horrible, his mind corrected

Ten minutes later, when the teacher had entered the class and started the lectures, he heard his cell phone start ringing. The ring started at a mellow tone but was increasing with every passing second till it began to echo all around the class. All eyes diverted towards Kai, who did not like all the attention on himself, and he silently prayed for her to stop. He couldn't answer the phone and he couldn't cancel her call either; she wouldn't be happy about that.

Kai knew that he was in a lot of trouble, but he smiled mentally at the thought of Voltaire getting another phone call in prison about his attitude in school. Voltaire's imprisonment wasn't in some small rotting cell, it was more like all of his office had been shifted from the main building of Hiwatari Enterprises to the confinements of the Moscow Prison, and he had to work from there. Voltaire had gotten enough calls from Whitney Preparatory regarding Kai's behavior. When Voltaire had found out that Kai was switching school he had, had his secretary call up Kai and inform him that if Voltaire got another complain from his new school, there'd be dire consequences. Kai knew what Voltaire meant by that; he'd get disinherited…blah… blah… blah… He'd been hearing that since he was 6. Voltaire didn't have any other heir so he couldn't possibly disinherit Kai.

"Mr. Hiwatari," The professor began in a venomous voice, "Do you intend on letting it ring or are you waiting for my permission for you to leave the room and have your conversation?"

Kai gave the professor a nod, who turned back to writing on the board, before taking out his cell phone from his pocket. He answered the call but before Hiromi's face came into view or before she could even utter a single word, he muttered a "Call you later, Hiromi!" into the mouth piece of the phone and immediately cancelled the call. He wanted to switch off the phone but he was worried that if there was an emergency, no one would be able to reach him. Knowing the Bladebreakers, Hiromi, Blitzkrieg Boys, Wyatt, Mr. Dickenson, Voltaire or others he knew, they could end up in a life threatening situation anytime and anyplace. And in situations like that, his presence or at least awareness was crucial.

Ten minutes later the phone started ringing in Kai's pocket again, this time he intended on cancelling the call, but before he could hit the little red button the professor growled, "Mr. Hiwatari, detention in lunch break, one week!"

Kai didn't respond, he just glared at his teacher and gave a slight nod before cancelling Hiromi's call.

In another part of school, the rest of the Bladebreakers were caught in the same mess; the room kept echoing with the ringing of five cell phones. Towards the end of the period, Tyson even resorted to sitting on his cell phone to drown the sound. Hiromi kept calling and calling, even after they cancelled her calls. The rest of the day pretty much went the same with Hiromi calling every five minutes. Even during detention, she kept calling them. The day ended with the Bladebreakers having 6 months worth of lunch break and free period detention. And by the end of the last period, a few minutes before the last school bell rang, all the Bladebreakers' cell phones rang simultaneously. On hearing the sound, the whole class groaned, the teacher broke her chalk in half and the Bladebreakers—minus Kai—slapped their foreheads.

The second everyone cancelled the calls, the teacher practically snarled,

"Mr. Hiwatari, Mr. Kinomiya, Mr. Tate, Mr. Kon, Mr. Sumeragi, Mr. Yamashi, (AN: I know that's not Kenny's surname, but since it hasn't been mentioned in the show, I'm making it Yamashi. :P)four more weeks of detention!"

Tyson banged his forehead on the desk.

The teacher was almost out the door when Kai's phone rang, yet again but she just left the class, groaning.

"Hiromi," Kai yelled into the mouth piece of his phone.

"Jeez, 'Romi, what was wrong?" Tyson asked, sounding frustrated. "You kept calling and calling—"

"Yeah, thanks to you we have 7 months of detention!" Daichi huffed.

They were all looking at Hiromi in the screen; she was wearing at least five layers of sweaters and was standing inside what apparently seemed like her new bedroom.

"You were in school?" Hiromi inquired nervously, giving everyone a sheepish smile.

Everyone sweat dropped, including Kai.

* * *

><p>The Blade Breakers, for the rest of the day, heard Hiromi complain about how her life sucked, and how much she was missing them, and how she was about to start school from the next Monday, and how awful it would be. Everyone just heard her drone on and on, occasionally, they'd get a word in now and then, but they just spent the entire day talking to her; they trained while talking to her, they prepared for tests while talking to her, they did their homework while talking to her, they even ate while talking to her. Hiromi spent the entire day walking around the streets of Norway while talking to the boys, glaring at her parents while talking to them, unpacking her stuff while talking to the boys, even going to take an orientation at her new school while talking to the boys, she barely listened to what the boy who was showing her around school had to say.<p>

When at the end of the tour the boy asked her what he thought of the school she answered him by a "Don't talk with your mouthful, you pig!". She had said that to Tyson, but the boy had thought she had said to him and gave her a very weird look, before walking off, wishing Hiromi luck for the new school year.

When the boy disappeared out of sight, Hiromi began walking towards the school exit. She groaned into the mouth piece and heard sniggering on the other side.

"Trouble in paradise, princess?" Tyson asked sarcastically.

"Oh, shut up!" Hiromi muttered, sharply. "The boy thought I called _him_a pig!"

"Ooh, so it was a boy who gave you the tour?" Tyson asked beaming.

Ray and Kai, both of whom had their noses buried in their books, immediately looked up.

"Hiromi," Ray began but she immediately cut him off.

"He qualified, Ray," Hiromi droned, nonchalantly, "He hasn't done anything mildly unacceptable in life."

Ray smiled satisfied, knowing that Hiromi was not associating with inappropriate people. Kai, on the other hand, pursed his lips in dissatisfaction.

"Just be careful in school, kay 'Romi?" Kais stated, imperturbably, though he was sweltering on the inside. "You can never trust people…"

"I'll be fine, Kai, don't worry," Hiromi reassured him, smiling. She had a fairly good idea what Kai had meant when he said that.

Night time eventually came, and the Bladebreakers said goodbye to Hiromi, who had completely refused to hang up. She kept droning on about how she regretted getting mad at the Bladebreakers when she lived with them.

* * *

><p>At about 1 o' clock at night when everyone was in their futons, Kai kept tossing, turning and looking at the empty futon sprawled onto the floor just next to his. It had been the same the whole day, he kept looking at Hiromi's empty school seats, her seat at the dinner table, her seat on the bench next to Kenny from where she'd watch the Bladebreakers and now her empty futon; he still kept missing her.<p>

When he finally drifted off into a deep slumber, he immediately woke with a start the very next second, from the vibration of his cell phone. Kai groaned in his sleep. He pulled his cover over his face and then answered the call.

"Hiromi?" Kai asked, drowsily, his eyes still hadn't opened completely to register the picture on the screen. "It's the middle of the night…"

"Aaaan, sorry Kai," Hiromi said, sheepishly, "But…"

Kai broke in, "Why could you have not called Tyson?"

"I was in no mood to talk to that idiot," Hiromi hmphed, "Besides he wouldn't know the answer of what I want to ask you."

"What do you wanna ask?" Kai asked anxiously, the sleepiness disappearing from his eyes.

"Well, it's really important," Hiromi started, Kai was staring at her, his crimson eyes not blinking once. "Am I seven hours ahead of you or behind you?"

Kai groaned, "I'll tell you when I am conscious, Hiromi,"

"Fine," she mumbled. "Sleep tight," she added, brightly.

Kai pulled his covers off his face and was almost back to sleep when the cell started vibrating again. He got under the covers again and answered the phone for what seemed like the millionth time that day.

"Hiromi," Kai complained.

He was drawn back when he saw that the screen of his phone was divided and Mr. Dickenson was on the other side.

"Hello, Hiromi," Mr. Dickenson said, cheerfully.

"Hey, Mr. D," Hiromi smiled back.

"How's Norway?" Mr. Dickenson asked her.

"Icy," Hiromi replied, shivering.

"Mr. Dickenson," Kai said austerely.

"Oh, right," Mr. Dickenson said, sounding as if her remembered what he called for. "I'm glad you're online too, Hiromi, it's necessary that I talk to the both of you."

"Why?" Kai and Hiromi both chorused.

"Since you two are the captain and coach of the team, your opinion on issues like these matters." said Mr. Dickenson, his voice a bit grim and less cheerful than before.

"What issues, sir?" Kai asked in a stern voice, "And why can't they wait until morning?"

"Definitely not, kids. I'm gonna have to ask you, well, not ask since it's not much of your choice, but you have to. You kids have to participate in a two day tournament for rookies being held in Tokyo."

"What?" Kai spat, feeling something hit his pride, "Why?"

"Jeez Kai, chill," Hiromi wheezed.

Kai gave her a glare.

"Well, I've got reports from the BBA spies there that some very odd characters are lurking around and they are suspicious that Boris or some of your other, ahem, rivals might be involved. Since, it's useless to involve the police –them being clueless to handle matters which involve these demented scientists—you kids have to stop whatever those people are planning."  
>"Mr. Dickenson," Hiromi began, skeptically, "What's the worst that they can do in a rookie tournament?"<p>

Kai thought that Hiromi was right, what harm could they possibly do to Bladers who could barely launch their blades?

"That tournament is being held at the museum of Beyblading and you both know how many ancient artifacts involving bit beasts are there. If they get into the hands of Boris or anyone else, it would be to say the least horrible, especially for, you kids!"

"Thank for making us feel so much better, Mr. D," Hiromi smiled, sarcastically.

"Usually before entering a tournament, the whole team has a conference with you," Kai reminded Mr. Dickenson.

"We did have a conference right now," Mr. Dickenson said matter-of-factly, "I was there—the owner of the team—and I discussed with you two –the captain and the coach—decision made!"

"Great," Kai muttered, "Bladebreakers meetings have been reduced to conference calls on cell phones, made from under covers, in the middle of the night, between just you, me and Hiromi!"

"Well, desperate times call for desperate measures," Mr. Dickenson said, simply. "And I'm pretty sure you two won't mind if they'll end up being between just the two of you." Mr. Dickenson finished in a serious tone though he was smirking. "Though, I'd never allow that..."

Kai and Hiromi both blushed scarlet and mumbled some incoherent and inaudible denials.

"Well, I better go, it's getting stuffy under these covers," Mr. Dickenson huffed.

"Why are you under the covers, Mr. D?" Hiromi asked, inquisitively.

"My wife wouldn't be happy if I disturbed her with the light and noise, now would she?"

Hiromi gave a light laugh, while Kai's face remained impassive.

"I'd better go wake the others," Kai stated.

"I'm coming too," Hiromi prompted, "Mr. Dickenson, I'm taking the BBA jet back home."

"Of course, dear," Mr. Dickenson said. "Boris won't be happy to see you after you broke his goggles the last time you saw him."

"Five pairs," Hiromi smirked proudly, and Kai rolled his eyes at her.

"Good luck, kids," Mr. Dickenson said, solemnly and cancelled the call.

"Hiromi, you are half way around the world!" Kai reminded her.

"You said we'd still be a team!" Hiromi reminded him, her voice sounded hurt.

Kai blinked at her.

"You're right," he smiled, "The team won't be complete without you being there."

"I'll be there no matter what it takes!" Hiromi said, determinedly. "Now go, start waking the others, it'll take an_hour_ for you to get Tyson off his lazy ass."

Kai smirked.

"See you in Tokyo, Kai," Hiromi said, and cancelled the call.

"Hiromi," Kai breathed, gripping his phone tightly. He pulled off his covers and got up to wake the others. He just hoped Hiromi would make it in time and they'd handle this situation as successfully as they'd handled the previous ones.

* * *

><p><strong>July 6th, 2011, 04:46 a.m.<strong>

**Finally, chapter 2 is over! X( This thing that you people read, writing it almost killed me, literally! It took me 10 days to write this. I intended on getting it done by the end of June. What happened was that, first, I got the most horrible block, I could barely right anything half decent. Anyone who doesn't believe me can ask Dead-by-n0w, she knows how horrible it was and I wrote half of this in midst of this block. Second, when my block started, my sister who moved out 5 years ago, due to certain reasons had to stay at her house, which she is still doing and she's gonna be living with us till *shudders* Sunday. Sunday, shall be the day of my independence. I'm use to being an only child for the last 5 years and she has to be the world's most *beep* sister, ever! She doesn't let me sit on the computer much, wanting to spend time with me, and trust me she does nothing but criticize me when we do spend time together. And when I was sitting on the computer these days, instead of completing this chappy, I had been writing emails to my friends telling them how miserable she'd been making my life! I feel sorry for them, especially Dead-by-n0w, who had to read to my humongous emails, in which I kept blabbing about how horrible my sister is, I just sent another one out 10 mins ago too! ^^ **

**Thank you to Dead-by-n0w, like always, for beta reading, the crap I wrote, I don't bag on myself usually, but before she fixed it this was seriously crap. Trust me people, you wouldn't have understood anything if she hadn't fixed this chapter, I wrote barely coherent sentences. And a special thank you to you for helping me with my sister dilemma. 4 days to go... :D 4 more days of suffering and you're gonna suffer along with me! :)**

**PS: The OC, I've mentioned, Hilary's sister, she's gonna be there for only 2 scenes. I needed someone to play Monique's part. I'm not fond of OC's very much so she'll barely have a part at all. **

**Thank you to those who read, faved and reviewed this story also those who added this to their alert list. Thank you to Dead-by-n0w, tyhiltwilover (I started my homework today! ^^), natasha 13, COOlz AnimeaDDict, Kawaai-Chibi-Kai, Honeygirl (Since you left an anonymous review here's the reply: I'm glad you like my stories and also that you were excited to read this chappy. =) I'll try to update as fast as possible.) Ms. Controversy (Since you left an anonymous review, here's the reply: I'm really happy you liked the story. ^^ I'll try to update as fast as I can. :D ) for reviewing.**

**I hope everyone liked this. ^^ Please, people it'd be great if you review, I worked _really _hard on this. **

**R and R... **


	3. Three Idiots and a Sidekick

_**Three Idiots and a Sidekick**_

Hiromi was tiptoeing into the museum's exhibit for bit beasts, groaning all the way; she felt outraged. The BBA jet had to pick up some clients for the company and thanks to that, she was extremely late. Then, she'd had to take three planes to get there, since no direct flights had been available because of the tournament being over, only the closing ceremony was left. If she was still living in Japan, she wouldn't have had to torture her back making her way here. The trip back here had almost killed her, literally. And by the end of it, Hiromi felt like screaming to vent out her feelings.

As if that hadn't been enough, she'd had to spend half an hour trying to convince the security guard to let her into the museum. She'd ended up calling Mr. Dickenson, in the end, to have him explain to the guard that she was no mugger, intending to rob the place; only then, had the man allowed her to enter.

She had told the guard that she would be going straight to the room where the Bladebreakers would be staying, but in reality she was making her way to the beyblading display. She was expecting the Bladebreakers to be there, keeping an eye on the excavations and displays. Little did she know, that the Bladebreakers had gotten so fed up keeping an eye on everything for the past two days— especially since nothing even slightly suspicious had happened—that they'd given up and gone to their rooms long ago.

Hiromi quietly made her way to the exhibition hall, hoping that the curator didn't hear her. She was anxious to see the Bladebreakers; it had been 5 days since she had seen them –thanks to her atrocious experience getting here— and she felt as if she was going over the edge. When she opened the door, it made a creaking sound. Before she could react to it, however, she felt a draft of air hit her and she began to wonder how the curators had been so indifferent, so as to have left the window open; someone could've easily sneaked inside the place through it.

She was brought out of her thoughts by some hushed movements, and she made her way silently around the room. The Bladebreakers, she noticed, were nowhere in sight and that put her in an even more awful mood than she was already in. She could have expected Tyson and Daichi to be off somewhere— probably raiding the museum kitchen— but not for the _entire_ team to be absent and not guarding the exhibit. Just because she hadn't been there to boss them around, didn't mean that they should slack off and shirk their duties. Oh, she was so going to give them a piece of her mind, once she saw them.

Another sound—a slight shuffling and a few urgent, angry whispers—snapped her out of her thoughts once more, and she felt herself panic a little bit. Someone was in the room, and judging by the silent murmuring she kept hearing, they were trying to be sneaky about whatever they were doing. She wondered which one of their old baddies it could be. Voltaire?

_Nah! _Her mind interjected. He was not this subtle and elusive. He was the kind of person who walked in with an army of minions, leaving everyone rooted to their places in fright, took his good time to inspect what he wanted to steal, and walked back out of the place with dignity. His entrances were way too inconspicuous_. Sneaking,_ Hiromi's mind concluded, _was definitely not Voltaire's thing._

Hiromi stopped in mid step when she heard scuffing of feet. _Damn! _Hiromi muttered in her mind. She couldn't believe that she was stuck here with some demented loser and his million henchmen. Well, she knew that there couldn't be a million of them; there was no way they could be sneaking around here so quietly. Where would they be hiding anyways? She deduced that there must be maximum five people; but still, what could she do against five armed people?

Slowly, she started backing her way around the room, making sure to sneak glances behind her and at her sides. The room was filled with carvings. In the dim moonlight —which was the only thing illuminating the room— she saw statues of bit beasts that she knew now belonged to her friends. There were a lot of paintings, too, of bit beasts and their past guardians. Even the Bladebreakers had their own ones carved onto stones.

Just as she was looking around, sort of distracted by the monuments, she heard someone hit their foot on something hard. Almost reflexively, she turned around at the sound, and what she saw made her let out a silent gasp; Gideon. He was standing next to a podium with an idol on top of it; the idol was covered by a glass lid and the moonlight was reflecting off of it. There was a placard below it, which read _Tempes Brutum_, but Hiromi was too absorbed by the statue itself to notice its name; it was of the Bladebreaker's bit beasts. There was Dragoon in the centre, coiled gracefully on the dais on his either sides were Drigger and Draciel. And finally, behind the three of them — as if ready to take flight—was Dranzer's majestic form. The effigy had been carved so intricately that Hiromi felt mesmerized just by looking at it. The eyes of each of the sacred beast were glowing malevolently in the dark, as if what she was staring at were not really sculptures, but the actually sacred bit beasts. She knew immediately that the statue was something of importance, and it would lead to chaos in Gideon's hands.

Gideon hadn't noticed Hiromi yet, but she —in outrage at his attempt of larceny— changed that, by yelling, "What do you think you're doing, Gideon?"

As soon as she had it, she clasped both hands over her mouth. Gideon, when he heard the loud, familiar voice, turned around.

_Tyson's right I do have a big mouth!_She groaned mentally.

"Oh, super," Gideon smirked snidely, "If it isn't the cheerleader?"

"Hey, at least I'm not some fired sidekick," Hiromi mocked derisively.

"Why, you little witch!" Gideon snarled.

"Hey, only my friends have the right to call me that, you fired loser!" Hiromi said in an austere voice.

Gideon— who got enraged at Hiromi's remark— dropped the lid that he had pried off the podium; it fell to the floor with a crash and splintered into a million pieces. Gideon, startled and surprised, backed off from the vicinity of the shattered glass to avoid stepping on it; so much so that his back hit a wall which was covered with a tapestry and had paintings of various bit beasts on it. Hiromi immediately saw this as a golden opportunity, and adrenaline raced through her veins as she ran over to the tapestry. Before Gideon could realize what was happening, Hiromi had already tugged the end, pulling it with such force that it tumbled right down upon Gideon. He screamed from underneath the thing, as darkness enveloped him.

Hiromi —knowing that he'd find his way out soon— was rushing to the idol, when a familiar, black blade blocked her path. Startled, she leapt out of the way and just as soon as she did so, the blade blew up, emitting blazing flames of fire. Hiromi sighed in relief; she'd gotten herself out of the way just in time. Her alleviation, though, didn't last for long; her mind immediately reminded her that if that blade was here, so would be his creator. Though, scared as she was, she couldn't help a grin from sneaking its way onto her face. She and Boris had a weird animosity ever since she had broken his goggles a few years ago, and he would _not_ be happy that she didn't die from his launch.

"Can't you hold still for one second, girl?" Boris asked rhetorically, coming into view.

"Nope, I guess my cheerleading skills aren't so useless after all!" Hiromi said, smirking acerbically. "And, Boris, it's Hiromi; Hi- ro- mi-! Say it with me - Hiromi! Not so hard, really."

Boris glared at her. _She's just as defiant and impertinent as Kai! _He though with contempt.

Gideon, who'd gotten out from under the tapestry by now, looked furiously at Boris before barking at him, "How could you miss her?"

"Are you blind, man?" Boris snarled right back, "Can't you see that the girl won't stand still?"

"And you people criticize me for my cheerleading skills!" Hiromi cut in, shaking her head, "They help you motivate your friends _and_ are great for defense too."

Boris launched another blade towards Hiromi, but she got out of the way just in time. Both Gideon and Boris made their way towards the girl, but she slanted out of the way just in time, causing the two of them to collide with one another.

Hiromi ran her way to another pedestal _ an uncovered one_ and lifted up a fish bowl shaped artifact, which had a painting of Raul's Torch Pegasus. She leaped her way to where Boris and Gideon who were sprawled on the floor on all fours, and forced the thing over their heads. As soon as she did, they started protesting from under it.

"Gideon and Boris? Two fired side-kicks working together," Hiromi muttered to herself. "Wow, that's a 9.5 on the weirdness scale."

"Aah" Boris said in a pleased voice, "It's not just us!"

"Oh, and I'm supposed to be surprised that Zagart is standing right behind me?" Hiromi asked in am impassive voice.

Zagart, who was creeping his way behind Hiromi, felt his face drop before he groaned in irritation.

"How does she do that?" Gideon asked, whining evident in his tone.

"A ninja you're not!" Hiromi turned around and said it to Zagart's face with a smile.

"Aah," Zagart said knowingly, "But _she_ is!"

Hiromi noticed someone creep her way behind her, but before she could respond, she felt a throng of pain as someone kicked her from the back, making her land against the wall of an open sarcophagus – which had a painting of Dranzer rising from the ashes on it– with a loud thud. Hiromi, groaning and squinting her eyes to see clearly, made out a female figure standing triumphantly over her. Though Hiromi was seeing doubles from the impact of the blow, she knew exactly who it was.

"Since when are you a ninja, K?" Hiromi moaned out.

"What you don't know, my dear," K said, amusement clear in her tone, "is that I, along with Boris, was once a student in the abbey. Back when his father, instead of this incompetent Mr. Balcov here, used to run that place."

Hiromi felt her eyes widen in shock, upon hearing the words, but before she could react any further, Zagart made his way over and slammed the door shut; locking her inside. Muffled yells could be heard from within the sarcophagus, but they went ignored.

Dr. K walked over to Boris and Gideon – who were trying, with no avail, to get the fish bowl off of their heads– and glared at them at their stupidity. Then, with one tug, she removed the thing off their heads.

Boris, after K was done, grinned widely at her. He had forgotten about K's 'incompetent' comment – at which he been outraged when he had heard it– and was now happy that the smart-alecky cheerleader got just what she deserved. He raised his hand up to K, and laughed, "High five, K!"

She left his hand hanging in mid air and walked over to the _Tempes Brutum_ idol. Boris, when he noticed his hand hanging in mid air, and pulled it down with a groan,

"Uhh! Why you got to leave me hanging like that, yo?"

He felt nice working with someone whom he knew from his abbey days. Though, no matter how much he admired her, K still thought of him as an 'incompetent loser' – as she'd put it– just like she did when they were in the abbey.

"I thought someone here should look competent," K said, apathetically.

"Don't get all lippy, K," Zagart muttered.

"Can we just get the monkey-thing before her entire team shows up?" K droned on, picking up the idol.

"Right," Zagart said seriously, "Let's get out of here."

"Where is the stupid team anyways?" Gideon asked as all four of them made their way out the open window.

"Who knows?" K laughed.

"Who cares?" Boris agreed, making his way out.

The Bladebreakers– unlike the other teams– had gotten a room very close to the exhibition hall, and had heard all the noises from the there. They'd heard the shouts of the security guards about a break in, and had made their way to the room, in their PJs. Kai was internally cursing himself for listening to his team mates – ' the dim bulbs', as he mentally referred to them– and deciding _not_ to stay on guard for the night. If anything serious had been stolen, their carelessness was to blame.

The Bladebreakers ran their way inside the room to see the window – which was locked when they left the room in the evening– opened, the tapestry lying on the floor, some relics broken and a huge glass lid shattered on the floor. Just as they were taking everything in, they started to hear a pounding sound; as if someone was slamming their fists against a door. They all turned towards the source of the sound, and saw that it was coming from the sarcophagus.

Really loud moaning started, and the pounding started to grow more urgent.

"Guys!" Tyson screamed, over reacting slightly, his voice petrified, "Mummy, in there… alive!"

"Tyson," The moaning voice from the sarcophagus sounded extremely daunting.

"The mummy knows my name!" Tyson screamed, backing off and hiding behind a totem pole. "I'm cursed!"

Suddenly, Tyson's cell phone started ringing. He forgot about his previous dramatic screaming and answered it,

"Hello," he said in a cheerful voice.

"Tyson, get me out of here," Hiromi's voice came from the ear phone; it sounded monotonous, yet irritated.

"Hehe," Tyson laughed nervously, running a hand through his navy hair. "Sure, 'Romi!"

Ray and Max went up to the sarcophagus and an enraged Hiromi barged her way outside, her hair all frizzed up having to sleep in the sarcophagus.

"Aah," Hiromi breathed deeply, "Fresh air!"

When she had fulfilled her oxygen, she came back to her senses, and everything started coming back to her. "Ugh!" she groaned, grabbing a fist full of her hair in frustration, "They must have knocked out the museum security somehow!"

Then she turned around and made her way up to Kai, who looked somewhat surprised. Jabbing her finger on his shirt, she yelled, "What is wrong with you? Why were, you people sleeping? Do you know that I've been stuck in that damn casket the whole night! I thought the whole point of participating in this stupid tournament was to keep an eye on these stupid artifacts! I took 3 planes and almost permanently ruptured my back, getting here and you were all sleeping! What is _wrong_ with you?"

Hiromi kept stomping around the place in frustration, muttering curses to herself. The others just stared at their furious coach, making sure to stay out of her way. Moments later, the museum director entered the room, accompanied by the entire security team of the museum. He was shocked to see the Bladebreakers and their coach – who was dressed as if she was going snow boarding–in the room, already, and was just about to say something before his eyes fell upon the podium which was standing in front of the mirror. He let out a strangled gasp as he realized that the idol–which was inside the podium the last time he'd checked– was missing.

"The '_Tempes Brutum'_idol, it's missing!" The man yelled in disbelief.

"Yeah, bad news on the evil eyed, bit beast idol front, sir," Hiromi said to the man, whom she could only assume to be the curator, "You can blame this on some people, and I'm not accusing anyone here, just saying." She looked accusingly at her team mates, especially Tyson – since she was sure that he was the one who convinced the others to decide to slack off – who just whistled innocently.

Kai, who was too immersed in his own thoughts, though, wasn't listening to the on-going conversation. He was looking at Hiromi, his eyes searching her figure for any sign of harm done. Thanks to his imprudent behavior, an important – maybe even dangerous– artifact was missing _and_ Hiromi had been right there when that had happened. Kai couldn't believe he'd been so stupid so as to have listened to Tyson; Hiromi was here fending for herself, alone against God-knew how many demented psychopaths. She could have gotten really hurt; that was the only thing which was going around Kai's mind. Of course he knew that she could take care of herself, but that never stopped him for worrying about her. He would have never forgiven himself if something would have happened to her.

"Evil-eyed bit beast idol?" Tyson asked shocked, snapping Kai out of his anxious thoughts, "How much did we miss?"

"Mr. Granger," The curator addressed Tyson, "Do you know that was your father's most prized artifact?"

Tyson gulped and let out a nervous laugh.

"Your dad's_so_ gonna bust you!" Daichi snorted, laughing.

"Did you not notice, young lady, that there was one sacred bit beast missing?" The curator asked Hiromi frantically.

"Yeah, you're right," Hiromi said spacing off, as if trying to remember something. "Daichi's Strata Dragoon _was_missing."

"Legend has it," The man began, his voice as frenetic as before. "If the Strata Dragoon idol was united with this one, it could lead to unspeakable_"

"Bit beast shrines?" Tyson asked cutting in.

Ray and Kenny palmed their faces, Max and Daichi snickered and Kai and Hiromi just glared at the Dragoon wielder in response.

"Never mind," he muttered.

"It could be used for unspeakable evil!" The man finished his previously-interrupted sentence.

"Evil," Kai who had been quiet all this while spoke up, his voice astringent, "Naturally!"

"Wow," Kenny muttered, "And Zagart has it!"

"Not just Zagart," Hiromi began explaining as Kenny's response reminder her of the fact that she hadn't told the others about how many people had broken in. Kenny must have known that Zagart must have been involved, since he was always into this idol stuff. Hiromi continued, "Boris and Gideon, too!"

"Wow, the villains teamed up," Tyson said in awed amazement.

"Was Dr. K there?" Max asked feebly.

"Yes, Max," Hiromi answered skeptically, "Why do you ask?"

Before he could answer, Tyson cut in, "Dude, don't tell me you have a crush on her."

Hiromi choked when she heard Tyson's words and Ray slapped his forehead.

"Of course not," Max mumbled, but then, he said, "But you can't deny that she is cute, though don't mention that I said this to Mariam, she'd murder me!"

"Have to agree with you there, Maxie; she _is_cute!" Tyson said smiling.

Hiromi, Kai and Ray just shook their heads.

"Crap," Hiromi mumbled suddenly, looking up at the clock; she was late. "I need to leave, guys, I'm late for the bus."

"You're taking a bus back to Norway?" Kenny asked skeptically.

Hiromi rolled her eyes. "No, I'll be taking a bus to Tokyo, then two plains to Østfold, and then finally a train to Oslo. And then of course, a bus to school, since, I'll probably be arriving on Monday morning, first day of the new school."

The others just blinked at her.

"No direct flights are available at such short notice," she told them grumpily and the others just nodded.

"I can't believe it, the villains team up, and I'm gonna be missing it." Hiromi whined, her voice showing actual despondency.

"'Romi," Kai began, feeling his guilt return, "We'll try to look up stuff on the _Tempes Brutum_ and you–"

"I'll be in Norway," Hiromi sighed.

Kai opened his mouth to say something, but thought against it.

"Bye, guys," she mumbled. She made her way to the exit, but stopped by Kai and gave him a quick one armed hug. Before he could return it or even respond, Hiromi made her way out of the door of the exhibition hall.

* * *

><p>"So," Hiromi began, slamming the door of her locker shut. "Quiz time. Boris, Gideon, and Zagart are working together to..."<p>

"It's a rule the world thing," Tyson stated flatly, from his place on the dining table of the dojo. The other's were all sitting around him. Kenny was typing away of Dizzy.

"It's _gotta_ be," Dizzy piped in.

"Ok, they've gotta be looking for the head right?" Hiromi asked, making her way into the cafeteria. "Dizzy, can you hack into the Biovolt spy satellites?"

"In my sleep," The computer bragged.

"Then take a nap and find out what's up!" Hiromi smiled; she had sat down on a table with a few kids on it.

"On it," Dizzy responded.

"So, 'Romi, how's it going? I'm kind of worried about you," Ray stated, his voice showing concern. The others suddenly developed an interest in their school books, which were sprawled all across the table. Kai, however, was still glancing at Hiromi's video on the screen, from the corner of his eye, waiting for her response. He, too, had been worried about her. It had been 3 weeks since the museum incident and Hiromi hadn't visited since. He was beginning to think that she might die from suffocation.

"I'm fine," Hiromi smiled, though everyone could see it was fake, "Totally fine, life here is great!"

Ray looked at her skeptically, and Kai raised an eye brow behind his book.

"The food is awesome," Hiromi grinned, "Tyson would probably burst from over-eating if he came here; I don't miss ramen and sushi at all!" Hiromi took a mouthful of something which was on her plate and tried to chew what she'd stuffed her face with.

"See? Delicious." Hiromi stated flatly.

Ray's mouth was open in disgust and even the other Bladebreakers were staring at her, disturbed.

"Wow, 'Romi, you've been missing me so much that you're adopting my eating habits?" Tyson chided, "That's so sweet! What were you eating, anyways?"

"It's lamb and cabbage stew," Hiromi said, a bright–yet, obviously fake– smile on her face.

"Are you sure that you're OK, 'Romi?" Kai asked, looking at her, concern evident in his eyes.

"I'm fine, Kai, relax, I'm gonna have a _blast_ working with my classmates for russefeiring. We're gonna think of ways to torture freshmen!" The fake enthusiasm was patent in her voice. "Why would I not be fine? I'm having sauerkraut and lamb and cabbage stew!" Hiromi gulped down another spoon full of her stew.

"What ever you say, 'Romi," Ray said looking unconvinced. "We'll talk to you later."

As soon as the Bladebreakers disappeared off the screen, Hiromi spit out whatever was left in her mouth.

"I miss ramen," she cried.

"You know there are other things to eat too; things which are actually edible," A blonde girl–whom she recognized as Andrea from her Bokmål, traditional Norwegian class– sitting next to Hiromi, pointed out.

"Andrea, the cafeteria lady said–" Hiromi began, but got cut of by the girl.

"You believed the cafeteria lady?" she asked eying Hiromi as if she had lost it.

Hiromi groaned, banging her head on the lunch table.

"I miss my Japan, I miss beyblading, I miss my friends, I miss Kai and I really miss my ramen!"

"You'll get used to it, sweetie," Andrea said, patting Hiromi on the back. "Our class is going skiing on Sunday, doesn't that sound fun?"

"No," she denied, groaning, "The last time I tried skiing was when I went with my friends to Russia."

"So, that's good. You'll have a good time and enjoy something related to your old life," Andrea suggested, looking on the bright side; not knowing that Hiromi was in one of her emo-moods, and that when she had them, nothing could stop her from dragging herself around the dojo and moaning about how life was horrible.

"No, that trip was terrible," Hiromi told her flatly, "I almost got killed by my best friends' grandfather's demented henchmen, fell from the slope more than 4 times, ended up with a broken leg and had to spend the rest of the vacation in the house listening to Spencer sing Christmas carols from morning to night! That is _not_ what I classify as a worth-remembering trip. So, now you see why I'm upset? I'll probably end up falling on my face when we go skiing."

Andrea just looked at her new-found Japanese friend in disbelief.

"I even miss talking to the idiotic Russians," Hiromi moaned, "I think I'll give Tala a call. Bye, Andrea, thanks for all your help!"

With that, Hiromi picked up her cell phone and speed-dialed the Russian team's phone number. Andrea heard her moan, "Kill me, now, please," as she walked off to the cafeteria counter to dispose off her tray.

* * *

><p>Flying over the Australian deserts was a black jet, making sure to say high enough, away from the prying eyes of land dwellers. Inside the jet, Dr. K was piloting and behind the pilot seats, there were a lot of crates. On top of a crate in the centre was the idol. Zagart, Boris and Gideon were all crowding around it staring at it intently.<p>

"Nothing's happening!" Boris whined, provocation evident in his tone, "Why is nothing happening? Something should be happening shouldn't it?"

"Patience, when the idol is near the earth dragon, the _Tempus Brutum's_ Dranzer figurine will flap its wings," Zagart said, staring at the idol as if he was entranced.

"I think that this whole thing is bogus," Boris hmphed.

"You wouldn't know mystical power if you held it in your hands." Gideon growled.

"What?" Boris yelled.

The two of them continued fighting, oblivious to the fact that Dranzer had started flapping its wings.

"Uh, guys," K tried to interrupt.

"Shut up, K," Boris and Gideon yelled together.

"Can you two losers please take this outside?" Zagart whined.

"At 30,000 feet?" Boris asked.

"My point exactly," Zagart muttered.

"Uh, guys," K called out again.

"What?" All the three guys yelled simultaneously.

"The phoenix flapped," K stated nonchalantly.

The three men turned to see Dranzer flapping her wings majestically.

"We must be close," Gideon said in an ecstatic voice.

"Maybe, there is such a thing…" Boris muttered to himself.

* * *

><p>Hiromi was sitting on one of the chairs of the coffee table of her new home; her knees were on the chair, so that her arms wrapped around them. She was looking at a photo album, filled with pictures of her with all the beyblading teams— mostly the Bladebreakers—, feeling extremely depressed and lonely. She had decided to cut the class russefeiring meeting, being in no spirits to attend, and spend the entire day just staring at old pictures and eating ice-cream; drowning herself in her sorrow and misery.<p>

Hiromi, when she closed her eyes for a second to stop some tears, snapped them open in shock as she felt someone slam the album shut in her hands, with a loud 'thud'. She looked up to see her sister standing next to her and groaned. _Does she do this stuff purposely to make me hate her more than I already do?_

"You, me, a Japanese restaurant I discovered and we're gonna— as you say in Latin, which you were supposed to take— _grandee size_ it! We're gonna get your mind off those boys _and_ Japan!" Hiromi's sister finished grinning from ear to ear and Hiromi could just look at her sister in shock.

* * *

><p><strong>OK, this is it the 3rd chappy of this story. I hope everyone liked it. ^^<strong>

**Thank you like always to_ Dead-by-n0w_ for beta reading this, you fixed my crap. :D Also thank you to_ Tenderfoot93_ for informing me about so many Norwegian details and traditions, I got the skiing idea thank to her and she was the one who told me about Bokmål and other details I added which are customary to Norway. Thank you for all your help. ^^**

**Thank you to the reviewers,_ Dead-by-n0w, tyhiltwilover, Kawaii-chibi-Kai, Tenderfootfoot93 _and_ angelchild001_. You guys are great! :D**

**R and R, please...**

**21st July 2011, 01:40 a.m.**


	4. Out of Sync

_**Out of Sync**_

"Haley," Hiromi looked at her sister who was sitting across from her. "You don't have to eat like Tyson."

"Oh, thank God," Haley picked up a handkerchief and wiped her mouth with it. "So, was that Tyson enough for you?"

"Thanks," Hiromi said taking in a spoon full of ramen; it was worse than what she made. "But there's no substitute."

Hayley sighed, "You're just being overly stubborn; I actually am beginning to like it here."

The younger brunette shook her head, but immediately forgot what her sister had said as soon as she heard her cell phone start ringing; she answered the incoming video call.

"Hey Kenny, how's it going?" she asked with a grin. Hayley couldn't help but notice how the call drastically improved her kid sister's mood.

"I've managed to trace out Team Boris." Kenny said coming into view; he was wearing his PJs, and was in front of a bathroom sink.

"What time is it there?" Hayley asked coming in front of the webcam screen, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey Hayley," Kenny stuttered, slightly shocked to see the older girl. "Bedtime, we were all about to head to sleep when Dizzy found a trace."

"So," Hiromi trailed on. "Where to?"

"Deep in the South American jungles," Kenny put his toothbrush in place and walked out of the bathroom. Just then, Tyson immediately came into view, snatching the smart phone from Kenny's hand.

"Hey Hailey," Tyson said quickly to the older girl, before turning to his friend, "I talked to Mr. Dickenson. He's arranged a plane for you so you can leave in 2 hours. You'll probably get there a few hours after us, but still on time though."

Hiromi groaned. "No way, there is no possible way that I'll get on-"

Tyson smirked mischievously. "It's summer in South America."

"I am there," Hiromi grinned. "And you better not be acting like a lazy ass again, Tyson."

"You have to nag don't you, Hils?" Tyson said in a sarcastic voice, but Hiromi ignored his words.

"Bye, Tyson," Hiromi cancelled the call before she could hear Tyson say, "She'll never make it.".

Hiromi groaned. "I'll never make it."

"Probably," Hayley agreed, deep in thought, sipping her drink through the straw. "Maybe you need a plan 'B' for the mean time, so you don't dwell on your future failure."

"Plan 'B'?" Hiromi stammered. "I don't I like where this is-"

Before Hiromi could finish her protest Hayley got up from her seat, grabbed her hand and dragged her up.

"Hayley," Hiromi complained in a whining voice.

"Come on," The elder brunette shrugged. "This will be fun, I promise."

Hiromi let her sister drag her out of the very stereotypical Japanese restaurant.

* * *

><p>"Beyblading?" Hiromi asked in an incredulous voice, when she realized that her sister had led her to a snow covered Beyblading Park. "You do know I do not know how to blade, right?"<p>

"Ah," Hayley began, taking a launcher and blade out of her duffel bag. "You said your friends were going to teach this year."

"Yes, Kenny and Kai, they are professionals, but you," Hiromi's blabbering was cut off by Hayley, who had narrowed her eyes.

"Hiromi, blading was famous when I was a kid too; I even tried to blade a couple of times,"

"And why didn't you continue?" Hiromi raised her eyebrow.

"I got bored each time and decided to go shopping," Hayley replied with a nervous laugh.

Hiromi face-palmed.

"Fine," she agreed in an annoyed voice. "Start teaching; though, note I have to leave in two hours."

The older brunette huffed. "Fine."

The two girls made their way towards the dish, the younger internally thankful that there weren't a lot of people in the park; it would save her public humiliation. Sucking at blading wasn't half as bad when she was there with the guys; even if she was pathetic, she knew her friends would defend her. This, on the other hand, would be extremely mortifying.

Hayley launched the blade with unwavering confidence, the blade shot out in the air with immense speed and power, missed the beydish by quite a few feet tackled a tree, carved half way into it's trunk before ceasing to spin and slipping onto the ground. The two girls gaped at the scene with mouths open and eyes blinking furiously as they tried to adjust. Hiromi was the first to speak up, looking at her sister she said, "Maybe a little less Kenny-ish and a little more Kai-ish."

Hailey stuck her tongue out at her younger sister, before going over the grab the blade, which was now smoldering hot. She returned to her position near the beydish, and smirking, slipped into a launching position again.

"Watch and learn," she spoke, launching the blade again with too much power. This time, the blade entered the dish, spun all the way before flying out again. It struck a pole and bounced against the smooth surface, flying its way back at an angle towards the already wide-eyed Hailey. Fortunately for her, she reflexively ducked down, hitting the snowy floor and the blade – instead of hitting her – hit the ground with a screech.

"Hayley!" Hiromi yelled making her way towards the older girl. "Are you alright?"

Hayley got up, dusting the snow off her jeans. "Never, am I trying to do something like this again, not even for you."

Hiromi snickered. "I think you need more training."

"I know," Hayley agreed in a sour voice, picking up the mutilated blade. "Fifteen more years of practice!"

"How about we go home and relax till I have to leave? At least it'll be warm there." Hiromi offered, taking the duffel bag from her sister.

Hayley groaned. "Sure. You're not gonna adjust or stop moaning even if you've learned to blade. So, sitting in the heated house sounds better than trying to kill myself. Let's go."

Hiromi smiled and followed her sister who was audibly mumbling curses.

* * *

><p>Boris grinned as he made his way through the forest, the idol in his hand, Dranzer flapping its intricately carved wings. "Warmer, warmer."<p>

"Ooh, colder," Doctor Zagart said in a disappointed voice as the idol stops flapping.

Dranzer begins to clap again, and Gideon smirks. "Warmer, warmer," He said in a high-pitched voice.

The idol started beating its wings faster and the three villains begin to increase their pace.

"Ha!" Boris said in a thrilled voice, looking at the temple in front of them. It was made completely of rock and boulders, with no apparent entrance. "The head must be under here."

Gideon walked over to the huge boulder and grabbed it at the base, trying to lift it up to make an entrance for them. Boris and Doctor Zagart look at him disbelievingly. This man was a scientist? This was the only thought going through the two middle-aged baddies' minds.

"I can't do it alone!" Gideon said in a strained voice, still trying to lift the boulder.

"Hmm," Doctor Zagart looked up. "Ahh, there's the doorknob." The other two followed his line of sight to a carving on the top of the boulder which looked very much like a blade.

Boris covered his eyes with his goggles, walking over to Doctor Zagart he said, "Hoist me up Doctor Zagart, I'll press it."

Doctor Zagart blinked at Boris's words. "No." He replied in a flat voice.

"Why not?" Boris asked, his voice aggressive.

"Because he's going to lift _me_," Gideon said making his way to the arguing duo.

"What?" Boris and Doctor Zagart both yell outraged.

In the mean time Doctor Kay -who was landing their jet - made their way towards the clearing where the three scientists were. She saw the entrance, noticing that it would be a while before the three buffoons got anything done, made her way to the top with quick ease that would have made her abbey trainers proud. She pressed the carving and the boulders parted making an entrance for them. "Hey!" K snapped her fingers, resulting in three men to look in her direction.

"Oh," Was all Doctor Zagart could say.

"Show off" Boris muttered in a sulking tone, making his way inside, followed by the other two and K.

After making their way through endless corridors, all lit with burning torches on walls covered with moss, the four of them finally reached the shrine.

Boris tried to make his way inside, but Gideon pulled him back. Doctor Zagart saw this as an opportunity to get in and tried to go through but Boris pulled him by his coat. The three of them were in midst of pulling each other back when a blade came spinning over and begin zigzagging through their legs, resulting in an expected fall for the three middle aged men.

"Excellent formation, gents," Tyson said walking into view with a smirk, Kai followed in after him. "But your landing needs a little work."

"The Bladebreakers?" Gideon asked in a shocked and infuriated voice.

"Why do you always act so surprised?" Boris asked in an annoyed voice.

"Hmm," Gideon blinked at the insight. "I don't know."

"Where're the rest of the snot nosed brats? And what about the cheerleader?" K asked walking into the scene.

"We split up." Tyson answered. Kai launched his blade and it made its way towards Boris.

Gideon and Boris launched their blades immediately in response; their blades tackled with Kai's Dranzer MS and there was a flash of light

"Dranzer," Kai yelled and the majestic phoenix made its way out of the blade. Boris and Gideon backed off as a heat wave shot out of the blade as Dranzer shot out of it.

"Cerberus," K called out and the three headed dog emerged from the blade. Kai was a bit taken aback, seeing the cyber bit beast that once belonged to Zeo, but he didn't dwell on it much.

"Charybdis," Boris yelled the very next second, bit beast surfaced from the bit chip. The sight of the water bit beast made Kai take a step back. Memories of the abbey, of when he was a child and completely at the mercy of Boris and his bit-beast, came rushing to his mind, enveloping his thoughts and making him lose concentration. The two blades of the two scientists clashed against Kai's Dranzer MS blade.

"Kai!" Tyson yelled, trying to make his way past Doctor Zagart to get his captain's attention. Dragoon made its way through the two men's feet, trying to get them away from the entrance. Tyson was just a few feet away from the entrance which was being blocked by Doctor Zagart- who himself could not enter.

It took a few seconds till Kai actually processed the meaning behind Tyson's shout; the two bit beasts were ready to attack him. With no time to call out Dranzer and put up a defense, Kai raised his hands in front of his ready to brace the attack. But before the bit beasts could reach him, Tyson's Dragoon MS UV blade – who had left Doctor Zagart – made its way towards where Kai was having his battle.  
>"Evolution Storm!" Tyson called out at the very moment and Dragoon was out of the blade, acting as a defense and shielding Kai from the two bit beasts.<p>

Between Dragoon's storm attack and Boris's water bit beast, there was a pretty big storm inside the old temple. Kai and Tyson were both finding it hard to keep their balance, the wind being so great that it was pulling them off their feet.

"What's wrong, Kai, are you scared?" Boris sneered at his old student, his voice cold and malicious. Now that Kai was out of the line of fire and his mind was back to normal, Boris's mocking remark made realization hit him. He had let his childhood fears almost get himself killed.

"Dranzer, flame saber!" Kai yelled out. Dranzer and Kai both were completely enveloped in flames as Dranzer attacked Cerberus and Charybdis.

Debris and rocks begin to fall from top of the building as the four bit beasts battled. Between the smoke, the fire and the storm blowing, the entrance of the shine was completely indistinguishable for Kai and Tyson - who were concentrating more on trying to get to the idol than focusing on the battle.

Doctor Zagart, no longer being hindered by the Dragoon blade, found his way inside the shrine. Picking up the Strata Dragoon idle from the podium, he quickly made his way out into the corridor again.

"I've got it." He said over the fog, waving the Strata Dragoon.

Boris and Gideon withdrew their blades and in midst of the smoke and wind, the three men made their way outside of the temple, towards Doctor K who had already escaped and made her way towards the jet.

"Damn it," Kai growled, grabbing his head in aggravation, calling back Dranzer. "Tyson, they're gone."

"What?" Tyson yelled in frustration, Dragoon spun itself to a halt.

The smoke and wind eventually cleared out after the four bit beasts went back into their chips. At that moment Hiromi landed through the fissure made in the roof by the bit beasts. "I made it, finally!" she exclaimed in an excited voice, detaching the parachute from the bag pack.

"Wait," she said, looking around the destroyed temple. "I missed them, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Kai said in a desolate voice. He and Tyson were standing in the middle of the rubble. Kai wanted to escape the place, he had acted like an idiot, freezing up like that at the site of Boris's bit beast; if he'd been able to protect himself, then Tyson wouldn't have had to interfere and Doctor Zagart wouldn't have gotten the idol.

"But this time...?" Hiromi asked making her way towards the two boys; she could see the outcome of the battle, but she still had to ask to be sure.

"Bad guys, two, good guys zero." Tyson groaned, before beginning to make his way back through the corridor.

Hiromi and Kai followed suit, neither of them uttering a word the entire way back. Both of them were thwarted by their second defeat, not knowing what they were going to do next. It was as if everything was going against them, things would usually fall into place on their own, stopping the bad guy, it had never been an issue before, and it was their personal conflicts that always messed things up. But this time, it was as if they weren't in sync, things were falling apart on their side of the bey stadium for the first time; usually it was the enemies' side or world outside the stadium. Facing the villains never seemed this hard or not viable before.

* * *

><p>A few days later Hiromi was sitting in the cafeteria with the same boy who gave her the tour; Kyon. He was trying to be helpful, telling her about the activities of the school, but he failed to notice that Hiromi did not seem interested. She did not blame the poor boy, he was trying as hard as could to get her to adjust, but what could he do if she didn't <em>want<em> to adjust?

Suddenly, her phone started ringing._ Saved by the bell_. Hiromi admitted mentally. She excused herself from her friend, he told her that she could stay and talk from there, but Hiromi excused herself again saying that it was a private call. The picture came into view and she recognized that Kai was in the training room, on the wooden floor, his back against the wall.; the others were apparently not with him.

"Hey Kai," Hiromi said brightly, blushing a bit and cursing herself internally for still not being immune to the way the Russian looked by now. Kai, who hadn't noticed anything, instantly started talking about the stolen idol problem.

"Chief turned up some information on the idol."

"Great," Hiromi replied gleefully, finally a silver lining. "So what does it do?"

"Still a mystery," Kai answered unthinkingly, but then his voice took on a more serious note. "But we do know there's a temple of the Tempus Brutus in Central Africa."

"You think we'll find evil incorporated there?" Hiromi asked in an interested voice.

"It is where they have to fit the strata Dragoon with the other bit beasts."

"Of course," Hiromi said resignedly, "Why is this ancient magic stuff it's always so complicated?"

"I'm sure the primordial parsons had their reasons." Kai said with a smirk.

Hiromi just shook her head.

"Okay, so meet me in Africa?" Kai asked getting up from the floor.

"Yes!" Hiromi exclaimed. "And this time, I swear I won't be late!"

Kai gave a slight smile in response and cancelled the call.

Hiromi put her cell phone in her pocket and went back to her food. It had been a month since Hiromi had left, and the amount of phone calls had drastically reduced. The time difference, the busy schedules – and eventually, developed toleration of both – had resulted in the guys and Hiromi exchanging not more than a few calls each day, and none at times which were inconvenient to either parties.

Kyon made his way to Hiromi's table and slid his way in. "I see that you're done with your call," he said in an attempt to make small talk.

Hiromi nodded in response and gave the boy a small smile.

"You really haven't been able to adjust yet, have you? Kyon trailed off.

Hiromi bit her lip.

"Well, it is kinda my own fault, I haven't been _trying _to adjust," she paused for a second to see the boy's reaction, his face was inert, but his eyes seemed to be engrossed in her words. "And I haven't been trying to adjust, well, because I don't _want_ to adjust. I wanna go back home!"

"Why is it that you miss Japan so much?" The boy asked with genuine interest.

Hiromi let out a sigh, she then launched into explanation, thinking that maybe it would be better if she vented to someone. "See, the thing is, my parents were mostly out of town since I was little. For the past few years I've been part of a sports team, and all of us lived together in one of our friend, Tyson's house with him and his grandpa." Hiromi stopped for a breath and Kyon nodded to show that he was paying attention.

"Now I'd been with them for four years, and it's kind of hard to adjust." Hiromi finished her story uncomfortably and then looked down not knowing what to say.

"I see," Kyon said trying to break the silence. "So, would you like to go out with me tonight, to dinner or something?"

Hiromi blinked in shock, she had not expected that. She looked at Kyon; sure he was good looking, bright black eyes, brown hair, slightly lighter than her own, an over all charming personality, but she wasn't ready for a relationship.

"No, Kyon," she said awkwardly. "It's not that I wouldn't want to, but it's just that I'm busy tonight."

"I'm fine with any time," Kyon offered gently.

"I'll be heading off to Africa," Hiromi answered, wanting to bang her head on the nearest wall. True as it was, it also sounded like the worst excuse ever.

Kyon raised an eyebrow.

Hiromi huffed. "I'm not kidding, that was what the phone call was, it was a friend from my team, I have to be in Africa."

Kyon's mouth widened.

"I know," Hiromi assented. "It can get pretty hectic."

"How about some other day?" Kyon offered.

"I'm sorry Kyon," Hiromi said benevolently, she placed a hand over his. "It's just that I'm not interested in being in a relationship right now."  
>It wasn't a lie; she was too caught up in the messes of the beyblading world to keep up with a relationship. And there was also the Kai issue; though she knew that there was not much of a chance of the two of them ever getting together due to a dozen reasons that were vividly clear in her mind, she still couldn't deny that she liked him. And going out with someone just didn't feel right.<p>

"It's alright," Kyon said quietly. "I'll see you around then."

"Yeah, of course, I'll see you around," Hiromi responded in a sheepish voice, though she knew she probably wasn't. Without another word, Kyon got up from his seat and began to walk off. Hiromi put her head down on the table.

* * *

><p>The Bladebreakers made their way through the African forests, this time deciding not to split up. Daichi, Ray and Kai were in front shearing away the tall grass. Max, Kenny and Tyson followed close behind them, the latter of the three whining despite doing no hard work other than moving his feet.<p>

After a while of pacing their way through the forest with no unusual interruptions, the boys heard someone making their way towards them through the opposite side of the forest. They stopped in alarm, each of them gripping on their blades and launchers ready to defend themselves. The sound of someone forcing their way through the tall grass without cutting it, and making their way towards them with quick steps got louder and louder till, a running Hiromi emerged from amidst the tall grass tripping her way into the clear path that the Bladebreakers had created. Kai caught the stumbling girl and steadied her.

"Ow," Hiromi groaned and looked up to see that the pair of hands that were supporting her belonged to Kai. She couldn't help but blush already, but the smirks from her team mates made her cheeks even pinker.

"Hiromi?" Kai raised an eyebrow, looking at the overwhelmed girl.

"I'm alright, sorry I'm late," Hiromi panted, catching her breath. "This elephant totally slowed me down."

"Hiromi," Kai pressed on her name. "Relax; you're right on time."

Hiromi breathed in relief and Kai let go of her arms.

"Guys," Ray said, making Hiromi and Kai turn around towards the rest of the team. "I think we should keep moving, the Tempus Brutus temple is just over that ridge."

Kai, Ray and Daichi continued shearing their way through the forest vegetation towards the temple. Hiromi made her way between Max and Tyson and begin talking with them.

* * *

><p>Inside the temple, Boris and Gideon were in midst of a very serious ritual; they were playing rock paper scissor to decided who would get to put the Strata Dragoon on top of the other bit beasts.<p>

The podium was on top of a platform which had staircases on each side of it, leading to the top. The podium itself had a sundial on it, on which the idol was to be kept; the part of the roof right above the podium had a round opening incised in it, to allow sunlight to enter. Doctor Zagart was standing on the edge of one stair case, the idol of the four bit beasts on place on the sun dial and the strata dragoon effigy in his hands. He was staring at the sun dial with a glimmer in his eyes, waiting for the shadow to indicate it was noon.

Doctor Kay sat, at the edge of the staircase, reading a magazine. She did not like these old and wrecked temples, they were not good for her white coat. Worst than that the three scientist she was working for were the biggest buffoons she had ever met, she was sure that they would end up accomplishing nothing, but as long as she was being handsomely paid, she did not mind tagging along. The doctor looked in front of her to see Boris and Gideon going at rock paper scissor for the fifteenth time. She shook her head warily and looked back down to her magazine.

"One, two, three" The two men said in unison. Gideon drew paper and Boris, poor man, drew rock.

"Ha! Rock beats paper." Boris said in a mocking voice, raising his hands in the air.

"Are you crazy?" Gideon asked in an annoyed voice. "Paper beats rock! Everyone knows that."

"Oh come now, that doesn't even make sense!" Boris tried to reason, moving his hands in the air in frustration. "How can flimsy paper possibly beat the raw density of stone?

"It is time!" Doctor Zagart said importantly. "Our moment is at hand!"

"Finally," Boris muttered making his way towards the staircase.

"Pardon me for making you wait a few minutes to dominate the world," Doctor Zagart said in an affronted voice. "But the magic won't work unless the head is reattached precisely at noon."

"Why is this ancient magic stuff always so complicated?" Gideon asked in a whining voice.

"You, of all people should know, Gideon. You've been dealing in bit beast for quite a while." Doctor Zagart's voice was derisive and his gaze piercing.

"Yes, in the science of blading and bit beasts." Gideon responded. "Not this mystical mumbo jumbo."

Doctor Zagart gave him a glare, but ignored his words.

"Toss me the monkey boy's bit beast." Boris said, gesturing to Strata Dragoon.

"What?" Doctor Zagart asked in shock. "No! Using mystical monkey power was my idea! The honor should be mine!"

"No," Gideon said, walking over up the stairs. "Mine!"

Doctor Kay cringed at the noise. "I am stuck with the freaking stooges!" she muttered to herself.  
>"Hey guys!" she said in an annoyed voice, making it sound as if she was trying to explain something to three year olds. "Why don't you work as a team, and put the stupid head on together!"<p>

"But I hate sharing," Boris said as if it should be blatant. He was also on top of the platform with the other two.

"No sharing," Doctor Zagart voiced the same opinion.

"Then we shall not share." Doctor Zagart agreed.

All three of them grabbed the head and tried to pull it away from the other, no fear of the possibility that it might break.

Doctor Kay sighed. Constant failures would do this to men who struck fear into the hearts of the world, not something she expected.

The sun beam got closer to the stand, Doctor Zagart was the only one to notice this.

"Less than ten minutes now."

The three men finally quit arguing and were watching at the shadow move forward. The ten minutes resulted in chaos and passed quicker then the past one hour, because only a minute later, there was a loud sound of metal screeching against the rocked floor and the three men and Doctor K looked up to see the Bladebreakers at the entrance.

"You don't stand a chance, Boris! It's seven against four!" Tyson said all of a sudden, making the rest of the Bladebreakers resist the urge to sweat drop. They had moved forward and distanced themselves from each other in an attempt to surround the four scientists.

Boris who was climbing down from the front staircase looked at Tyson in confusion. "Six against three, and you're still going to lose."

"Excuse me?" Doctor K said in a shrill voice, getting up from the step.

"Okay," Boris rolled his eyes. "Four against seven; if you count the sidekick and the cheerleader."

"Honestly, why do I bother?" Doctor K asked looking at Hiromi who didn't respond, she had gotten apathetic to the comments over the years.

Kai tired of the small talk, yelled, "Dranzer! Spiral flames." Dranzer emerged from the blade, and in an instant the entire temple was surrounded from all sides with flame, so that no one would be able to escape.

Boris and Gideon launched their blades and called out to their bit beasts. Ray, Max, and Daichi followed suit and joined Kai in battling against Boris's Charybdis and Gideon's Cerberus. A whirlpool of smoke, fire, lightning, water and wind emerged all of a sudden hiding the five battlers from the view of the others.

Tyson launched Dragoon MS UV towards Zagart who had the idol making him drop it; Hiromi was quick in picking it up, she ran her way towards the exit certain that Dranzer's flame wouldn't harm her unless Kai wanted them too. Zagart might have been too busy with Tyson's blade blocking its path, but Doctor K made her way towards Hiromi who tossed the idol to Kenny.

Kenny barely caught the idol and began running with it, he tripped on a rock on the floor, the idol escaping his hands and ending up with K. Tyson managed to secure it from K – after catching up with her as she tried to make her way towards the stairs – and then snatched it from her hand.

"Max is right," Tyson said backing away from her. "You are kind of cute."

He tossed the idol back to Hiromi, who began running with it toward the exit again.

The idol got tossed thrice between Hiromi, Kenny and Tyson, with Zagart and Doctor K trying to intercept with no avail, except once from K. They were continuously trying to dodge each other, throwing the idol from one to the other. Tyson, always the optimist was, occasionally complementing the other two if an impressive toss or catch was made.

Boris's bit beast makes its way towards Hilary, who was too caught up in getting away with the idol to notice it. Kai – in an attempt to get Hilary out of the line of fire – made his way out of vortex, letting go of the control to his blade which results in it spinning to a halt and Dranzer going back in the bit chip, the fire bordering the boundaries disappearing with the phoenix.

Kai made it to Hilary just in time pushing her down to the floor with him, before the water bit beast could attack Hilary with an attack which haunted Kai's childhood just like Zeus's King of Darkness haunted his present life. The two of them landed simultaneously on the cold hard floor with a thud, Kai keeping his hand around Hilary's back to keep her from getting up.

The idol which was in Hilary's hand obviously fell out when she was pushed down it rolled down the floor and Zagart was quick to pick it up, before Tyson could get the Dragoon blade to block it's path or Kenny could make his way towards it. Zagart makes his way up quickly just as the shadow points to exact noon and puts the Strata Dragoon on top of the other idol.

Ray, Max and Daichi who were still caught up in the vortex created by the bit beasts, worried about Hilary than trying to overpower Gideon, got more distracted when the heard the sound of lightning cracking they called back their blades. Strata Dragoon, Drigger and Draciel went back inside their blades instantly.

The smoke and wind cleared up to reveal that Gideon too had called back Cerberus and was making his way towards the staircase. At the end of the stair case, above the platform was a huge vortex, with Zagart standing in front of it, the united idol in his hands. Boris had called back Cerberus and was on the platform too, K quickly climbing her way up.

Hilary and Kai were on the floor facing the vortex, Kai's arm still around Hilary. Kenny was on the floor -due to the force of the vortex when it opened – near the two of them from when he tried to make his way over to help Hilary when Cerberus was going to attack her.

Tyson was making his way towards the platform, running over from the other side of the room where he had landed when the vortex opened. He was at the bottom of the staircase by the time all four of the baddies were at the top and in front of the platform.

"So long, Bladebreakers," Boris let out a mocking laugh. "We'll meet again . . . in time."

With those last words the four scientists made their way inside the vortex, Boris being the last one to enter. Tyson by now was up the many steps of stairs, he leaped forward in an attempt to grab hold of any one, but all of them procured their way inside just before Tyson could reach them, the portal closed with a blinding light which made everyone cover their eyes and instead of entering the vortex Tyson landed on the platform with a screech.

The blinding light ended the second Tyson hit the floor, the Bladebreakers eventually opened their eyes and looked around them to see the outcome.

"We...lost," Kai said in disbelief; turning to his side so that he faced a blinking Hilary, who was lying beside him.

"We seem to be doing that a lot lately." Hiromi said in a weak voice not knowing what else to say.

* * *

><p>Later that night, more towards early morning of the next day Hiromi was back home, lying down on her bed. She had her laptop on her lap and she was talking to the guys.<p>

"I'm sorry guys, I just didn't know what happened; I couldn't keep up with all the chaos and everyone crowding up everywhere. I kind of I thought Boris was gonna zig when he zagged."

"Zig?" Tyson said in a disbelieving voice; he was sitting along with the Ray, Kai and Max on the kitchen table; Kenny was in the training room working on finding the trace of the idol and Daichi was apparently helping him. "We always zag in this kind of situation."

"Hiromi," Ray spoke up. "It's not your fault, it's kind of hard to manage things now, but it's not anyone's fault."

Kai nodded and so did the others.

"Oh God," Hiromi groaned, rubbing her temples. "We are so out of sync."

"Yeah," Max said in agreement, "No doubt."

The others gave him a look, but Hiromi cut them off.

"He's right, you guys, he's being realistic," Hiromi said in an uncomfortable voice. "It's not working is it? The team thing?"

"Hiromi," Kai spoke up for the first time since they got back, in an attempt to reason with who could soon be their former coach.

"Really, Kai, do you really disagree with me?" Hiromi asked in a dim voice.

"No, I don't," Kai answered quietly.

"Well I guess that's what happens when you live on opposite sides of the globe," Hiromi laughed slightly, attempting to hide the misery in her voice.

"Sorry, Hiromi," Tyson said, his voice helpless, he then got up from his seat in front of the table and disappeared from the camera's view.

Ray and Max didn't what to say anymore either, so with a last helpless look to Hiromi and sorry that sounded equally as earnest, the two of them disappeared from view as well.

"I guess you guys better do things on your own from now, get a new coach to help you out," Hiromi said ineptly to Kai, running a hand through her hair.

Kai gave her a glare.

"On our own, yeah, sure, _n__ot_ with a new coach."

"It's alright, Kai, honestly, I wouldn't mind. You guys do what's helpful for you, whether it's related to the tournaments or the issues with the crazed scientists, as long as we'll still be friends." Hiromi finished with a weak smile.

"Always, Hiromi," Kai replied in a stern tone, his red eyes boring into her maroon ones.

There was awkward silent for a while between the two, now former team mates.

"Hiromi," Kai spoke up in a resigned voice trying to get it across to her somehow that this didn't change anything, but Hiromi cut him off. He wanted to speak up again, but he knew that his words would only betray him; he never was good with words, and they could only do so much. And right now, Kai knew that all they would do was damage.

"Listen Kai, I've got something in my eye," Hiromi said, her voice on the edge of cracking. "I'm gonna talk to you later."

She hit the _end call_ button immediately, not waiting to hear Kai's words of protest, and putting away the laptop she flipped down on the bed and buried her face in the pillow. In her last words, she sounded just like Kyon did when he had walked off from her and Kai could tell it would be a quite some time before he would get the opportunity to talk to his frenzied friend.

After a while of fidgeting in bed, Hiromi sat up straight and picked up the turned-down Latin book she had bought for a class she was not going to take. She looked at the page to see that the first word on top of it was '_Tempus'_ which was written to have meant, 'time'. Hiromi's eyes widened in realization and she quickly flipped back through the pages to the B section. '_Brutus_', she saw written on the sixth page, it was said to meant, 'bit beast'.

"Tempus Brutus," Hiromi said in awe and understanding. "Time Bit beast"

Boris's voice echoed in her mind. _We'll meet again, in time._

"Time bit beast!" Hiromi said out loud in shock, as realization finally dawned upon her.

Out of the blue there was a blinding light in front of her study table, Hiromi turned around to see a vortex – very similar to the one that got created in Africa – open up. Hiromi backed up in her bed in alarm and apprehension. If the four baddies would enter her room right then, they could probably slit open her throat and leave her to bleed without anyone having a clue of what went on. So she moved her hand towards her cell phone; if she could get a call across to Kai and get him to answer, even if she was not able to say a word, he would know something was wrong. At least what could be her death would not go unknown.

All of Hiromi's worst case scenarios slipped from her mind and her hand let go of the phone without a worry when she saw who emerged from the whirlpool.

Her former fear dropped and she inched forward towards the edge of her bed, moving towards the newcomer.

"Zeo," Hiromi said in wide-eyed disbelief.

* * *

><p><strong>Ten months, and now I finally make an update. *grins* Thank you to Dead-by-n0w for beta-ing this and fixing the issue of my excessive <em>said-s. <em>lol**

**I hope everyone liked it. Please, pretty please, with KaiHil-ness on top, review, and tell me what you thought of the battle scenes, it was my first time writing a battle. xD**

**Thank you to all those who read the previous chapters and faved the fic. Special thanks to Dead-by-n0w, Kawaii-Chibi-Kai and Tyhiltwilover for reviewing the 3rd chapter; IToldYouStopStealingFromMe for reviewing the 1st chapter, and EnchantedCry for reviewing the second chapter. xD**

**Later. :) The next update will probably be sooner. =D**

**29th May, 2012. 00:45 a.m.**


	5. Russia in '95

_**Chapter 5: Russia in '95**_

All of Hiromi's worst case scenarios slipped from her mind and her hand let go of the phone without a trace of worry when she saw who had emerged from the whirlpool.

Her former fear dropped and she inched forward towards the edge of her bed, moving towards the newcomer slowly and hesitantly.

She gawked in wide-eyed disbelief. There was an eerie and awkward sort of silence spread across the room as she watched Zeo standing near the brink of her bed staring back at her.

"I am Zeo 3000," The man-robot that looked very much like her old friend announced in a serious voice. "I have come for you from the future."

Hiromi twiddled with her fingers awkwardly now sitting at the edge of the bed directly in front of the Zeo look-alike watching him with narrowed eyes. The previous fear she felt was slowly returning at the oddness of Zeo's words and she was having some serious doubts on both hers and Zeo's sanity.

"This day just got so much weirder!" She admitted blinking a couple of times to see if her eyes were playing tricks one her. "Either I'm hallucinating real badly, or there's some major time-space shit going on and you're real."

Zeo 3000 glared at her in resentment, he spat hotly, "Madam, I am not a figment of your warped imagination. I am only here because I have learned that you're the only hope for the future," slapping away Hiromi's hand who was trying to pinch his cheek to verify if he was real or not. Oh, the indignation! He, he a middle aged, highly respected combatant was being abused by a teenaged girl.

When her hand got slapped away Hiromi realized that the man in front of her looking like Zeo though dressed in rather odd armor was really there and not just a product of her mind playing tricks on her. She was clear though that

It was raining in Japan and she was stuck there in freezing Norway with nothing to do, other than try to figure out if she was hallucinating or not while waiting for lightning to strike her to death. _Great_, she thought grimly. She had to talk to Kenny, he'd know what to make of this; she was clearly at a lost for what to do right now.

She picked up her phone, still eyeing the boy in front of her suspiciously, and dialed Kenny's number. The boy answered on the third ring and, and Hiromi thanked her lucky stars that he was alone in the room. "Kenny," Hiromi said slowly, "Zeo just zapped into my bedroom and he's claiming that he's from the future."

"Hiromi, Zeo is in Japan," Kenny reasoned doubtingly, ". . . with Doctor Zagart – did you say Zeo is saying he's from the future?"

Hiromi watched the brown haired boy's eyes gawk as she turned her smart phone so that the camera was facing the supposed-Zeo. "Yeah, check it out." She told him. She began moving her smart phone up and down in front of Zeo, who was watching her quietly with narrowed eyes showing apparent indignation, so that the Chief could scan him. Soon as the scan was over Hiromi withdrew her phone and moved back a few feet from the edge of the bed and the robot and watched curiously as it looked around her room scrutinizing its surroundings.

Kenny began typing frantically on Dizzy muttering incoherently under his breath like he did when he was concentrating too much. Few moments later the Chief pulled back his hands and looked tentatively at his now-foreigner friend. "Uh, Hiromi," he started unsurely. "I don't think that's Zeo."

Dizzy's giddy voice could be heard coming from the speakers. "He sure looks like Zeo."

Kenny added. "I guess, except for the, you know, him not actually being Zeo part," his words were distracted, and he paused for a second and began typing frantically. "Though, his built-up is pretty much the same as Zeo too. Still, he totally doesn't know you."

The man in question took the liberty to speak once more. "I am known as Zeo 3000." He admitted turning to face Hiromi. "I come from the future."

"Okay..." Kenny scratched his head perplexed. He always knew what was going on, right now he couldn't figure out what was up with this robot in Hiromi's room, and he did not like it.

Hiromi on the other hand blinked at the declaration "You're from the year 3000?"

Zeo's right eye twitched in unconcealed annoyance. "No," he answered slowly, "But I am one of 3,000 hyper evolved descendants of Zeo prime."

Hiromi was by now completely backed up towards of the opposite edge of her bed, leaning against the headboard and as far away from the creepy intruder in her room."Kenny, give me the super genius take on this." She said desperately. Oh God, just don't let her parents show up here, or anyone of her teammates where Kenny was, it would make the situation far more uncomfortable.

Kenny stopped typing for a second. "Dizzy's defiantly picking up some pretty strong time cooties," he mentioned absently his concentration still on the screen of the snarky laptop in front of him.

The Japanese girl in the premises of the Norwegian home cocked her head to the side. "Really?

At the skepticism in her tone, Kenny stopped in mid-typing-a-word to register what he had said. "No," he interjected in realization; he slapped his forehead in exasperation. "There's no such thing as time cooties."

"Actually, there are," The Zeo look-alike acclaimed speaking for the first time in another short while. He made his way over to the side of the bed so that he was facing Hiromi. "And they really itch. But we must focus on the more important issue: the fate of the world."

"Um, could you be more specific?" Hiromi scratched her head. This was all beginning to seem like a very bad dream. If Blitzkrieg boys including Kai would pop up in swimming trunks from another vortex any time soon, Hiromi would be convinced that she was certainly dreaming.

"It will be clearer if I show you." The robot stated and took out a small remote control like gadget.

The portal opened once more and Hiromi gasped inaudibly at the sight of it. The phone dropped from her hand and Kenny's yells of her name coming from the speakers are ignored as she stared at the swirling vortex in front of her.

Hiromi watched in awe as the robot went and stood next to the whirling vortex which seemed to be pulling him in. "Step forward." Zeo 3000 commanded, signaling towards the swirling whirlpool.

Getting off the bed, unsure if she was doing the right thing, Hiromi made small barefooted steps towards the opposite side of the room where the portal was open. The robot stepped inside the gaping hole and disappeared in a second. Hesitant about the authenticity of the claims of the man she was following and unsure if he was an ally or not, the brown-haired girl took a step into the portal and got sucked in immediately.

The last thing she remembered doing purposely was screaming on the top of her lungs. It seemed to her as if she was being sucked through a giant drainage line, spinning and spinning. The blurred images of vaguely familiar people and places, flashing through her head and a loud screaming echoing in her head impeding her ability to make sense of the situation any more than having the urge to keep screaming her guts out.

She fell from the sky and landed on the asbestos floor on all fours. Gingerly she got back on her feet and dusted herself off. She couldn't help watch in wide eyed horror at the world around her. Bakuten looked like a warzone. It was isolated and completely devoid of any form of human population, minus-ing the few uniformed guards marching the streets.

"No way," Hiromi muttered still staring dumbstruck at her surroundings. "Boris did it?" she mumbled in awe taking a few haphazard steps around her. "He took over the world?"

Zeo 3000 watched apathetically the girl in front of her absorbed the new found information. He gave her a few moments to digest everything and come to terms with it all. He opened up the vortex once more and pulled Hiromi's awestruck form and his own self into the portal.

The two of them were dropped back into Hiromi's room; the robot was unruffled and upright on his feet, Hiromi on the other hand was on all fours again.

Getting up from the ground, whilst eying her surroundings suspiciously, Hiromi took a seat on the chair nearest to her. "How did this happen?" she asked the robot in front of her.

"The Supreme One took power with cruel swiftness." Zeo answered bitterly. "No one knows exactly what happened. We believe that time travel is the key; somehow the Supreme One tampered with your past."

"Time travel?" Hiromi went wide eyed in her seat. "The time bit beast!"

"Exactly." He confirmed "Tempus Brutum."

"But what can I do?" she asked in confusion. It was clear to her now – somewhat – what had happened, but what role did she have in fixing it, was still lost to her. She was just the cheerleader for God's sake.

Zeo's face turned more solemn. "History tells us that you were the only one to have defeated the Supreme One in the Pre-Brutus era." Again, she was just a cheerleader, she couldn't even blade! What was this man harping about?

"But if the Supreme One has the time effigy in the future –" Hiromi said slowly, her face screwed up in concentration, "… or wait, the past," she paused again and squeezed her eyes shut. "…or, wait –" she interjected, "ugh! Brain pain."

Zeo smirked humorlessly. "Time travel does that."

"All I know is that I'm stuck in the now and I'm fresh out of time statues," Hiromi reasoned. "Besides, I'm not a blader; I didn't do anything other than cheer for my teammates."

The robot's face, for a second, morphed into one of age old wisdom. He gave a soft smile. "You kept your teammates together."

Hiromi looked down in her lap and remained silent.

From his pocket the other occupant of the room took out a wrist watch type thingamajig. He handed it to her and she took it gingerly in her hands. "This is a crono-manipulator."

"Big enough?" Hiromi scoffed strapping the thing to her wrist.

He narrowed his eyes. "Beats strapping a statue to your wrist."

"Fair enough," Hiromi shrugged.

"This is your tick to time travel, use it, in victory!"

"Great," she muttered wearily, "Mind if I get Kenny to scan the specs?"

Zeo 3000's eyes widened, in alarm. "No!" he shouted raising his hands anxiously in the air. "The time stream has been polluted enough!" he paused to draw in a breath, Hiromi was staring at him with a dumbstruck look. "In fact, I must return to my own time before I corrupt the past even further. Also – I'm making cookies."

Hiromi cocked an eyebrow. "Cookies?"

"Well fighting an evil overlord works up a fierce appetite," he answered defensively.

"I hear that." Hiromi chirped in mock agreement.

The robot placed walked forward and placed a hand on her shoulder. "The fate of the future, humanity, and the planet earth itself," he stated in a grave voice, his eyes harsh, "rests in your hands."

"No pressure, right?" Hiromi chided with a dry laugh, nervously scratching the back of her head. Just when she had decided to quit the world of blading in dread of having been just a hindrance she was hurtled back in, and with a responsibility she didn't think she could handle, not on her own she couldn't.

The robot did not take liberty to answer, instead jumped directly into the whirlpool leaving behind Hiromi to stare at the shrinking vortex eventually disappearing into null space.

She picked up her cell phone to see Kenny's furious and indignant face, but before he could start his tirade. "Do not mention any of this to _anyone_!" she snarled, and with that short threat accompanied by a potent glare, she cancelled the call. Throwing her cell phone she onto the carpeted floor and taking a reassuring sigh, she flopped on her back on the bed, making a_ poof_ sound as her body hit the mattress and the pillows.

Again, it was such nice weather in Japan, and she was stuck in Norway, freezing and all alone, and now with a responsibility to save the world from being taken over by blading obsessed madmen, she wasn't even a blader. Oh, how she wanted to go back home, instead, she continued flopping from one side to another on her bed.

* * *

><p>"Guys –" Doctor Kay called out from the crate she was sitting on in the abandoned hide house she and her other partners in crime were hiding in; no response. "Guys –" she stopped filing her nails to look up at the middle aged men in the room. "Guys –" her voice was losing its patience now; still no response." Damn, Boris looked stupid pacing around the wrecked up place, her amusement at the situation at hand returned. "Guys," she called out again, "yeah we got the time machine. Woohoo, yay for us, but we need a plan, a <em>smart <em>plan."

Boris gave her a degrading glance. "Sidekicks are to be seen and not heard, Kay." He told her, and then turned his attention back to Gideon and Zagart who were clearly not even regarding her presence. "We need a plan, a smart plan," he mused, ignoring Kay who was rolling her eyes.

Zagart watched him pace around with narrowed eyes. "We're listening."

"We wanted to get rid of Hiromi Tachibana since she's the one who tied the Bladebreaker's together all these years. I have run a computer analysis on her life and have calculated the exact day when she will be most vulnerable." He explained to the rest of them in a musing voice, not stopping his pacing even then.

"Sounds smart," Doctor Kay commented skepticism still in her tone; she was waiting for the bubble to burst.

Finally Balcov stopped and turned to face the rest of the occupants of the room with a maniacal grin on his face. "We must go under cover using the Juvinator!" he announced with excitement and pride in his voice.

"Juvinator?" Kay asked dumbstruck. "What the hell's a Juvi –"

Before she could finish her sentence, Boris who was proficiently ignoring her picked up a device from a near by crate and pointing it at himself pressed a button. There was a blinding beam that made Kay stop in midst of her words and close her eyes, the second she reopened them Boris was exactly where he was, but instead of a middle aged man, he was now a six year old.

Toddler Boris grinned as he analyzed the result's of his experimental invention. "Cool!" he grinned even broader.

Kay was watching with narrowed eyes the indefinably stupidly scene unfold in front of her. "Okay, it just got dumb," she muttered. Getting up from the crate she was on, she started walking out of the room unable to take the stupidity anymore; she was losing some serious IQ points here.

Boris ignored her once more and turned to the other men with the juvinator in his hands. He pressed a button and beam shot out and hit Zagart and Gideon, seconds later they too were toddlers.

Toddler Gideon looked in astonishment at his miniature self. "I'm a little brat," he stated in awed fascination.

Toddler Zagart on the other hand was practically seething with rage; he still hadn't lost all his marbles unlike the other two men. "Boris," he spat out the name. "Why on earth are we toddlers?"

Boris smirked, a knowing smirk that made Zagart doubt his belief of Boris's stupidity, "Because, our target is Hiromi Tachibana's first vacation to Russia."

* * *

><p>Russia was covered in snow most of the times, and early winter was certainly no exception. The roads, rooftops, building, parks, heck even the people on foot were all completely covered with snow at most times.<p>

The playground in the suburban area of Moscow looked magical all covered with snow and with twinkly lights shining upon it illuminating the dark – even though it was just five – evening sky.

A small family stood at the entrance of the park involved in serious conversation.

"But mommy, I don't wanna stay here alone," a brown haired girl of merely age five whined cutely a pout on her face, pulling the hem of her mother's dress that was extending from under her jacket.

"Sweetie, you know we can't stay with you all the time. You'll have fun here." Mr. Tachibana said kneeling down to his daughter's height.

The five-year old scrunched her nose and turned away. "Maybe I don't wanna have fun."

"Hiromi," he said sternly, "we know the prospect of staying here alone seems a little scary –"

Mrs. Tachibana cut her husband off in fear of him saying something stupid, after two kids she knew that he was capable of saying the wrong things without meaning to. "But as soon as you make a friend, you'll see what a super time you're in for."

The little girl's eyes were at the brink of tears. "What if I can't make a friend?" she mumbled looking away.

"'Romi," the Japanese man said, his voice pleading. "You'll make friends and have a great time. I promise you."

Three rogue-ish little boys ran past the happy family almost running them over. This made the little Japanese girl feel even more panicky inside.

Hiromi fidgeted with her fingers and stared at her parents' face memorizing them. She definitely did not like the idea of being left alone in a place where she knew no one. "Okay." She told them and began taking small steps backward, away from her parents.

"That's my girl." Mrs. Tachibana smiled proudly. "Now, run along." Hiromi was now sprinting backward, away from them towards the other children, her paranoia and shyness somewhat leaving.

Finally she turned and started running towards the swings. Mr. Tachibana smiled at her disappearing figure. "We'll be back as soon as possible," he called out after her, his voice a bit down.

With those last reassuring words the Japanese couple turned around on their heels and proceeded to make their way out of the park talking in hushed tones about leaving their little girl alone in a park. Mr. Tachibana seemed nervous, but his wife was certain that Hiromi was a strong little girl and would be just fine and that he should focus on their meeting. Just like that the couple made its way out of the snow covered park no longer worried about their little child, but the important evening planned ahead of them.

* * *

><p>Back at the dojo Kenny frenzied by his secret conversation with Hiromi was working on Dizzy like a madman in the confines of the empty training room. Ray and Max were out of the house, whilst Daichi was taking a late morning nap.<p>

The team captain of the Bladebreakers wanted nothing more than too sleep too, but Tyson was forcing him to accompany him against his will. The two world champions were in the living room, seated cross-legged on the floor in front of the low height centre table which was covered with piles and piles of scattered photographs.

Kai was glaring at each photograph with a mixture of such potent hatred and longing that it was a surprise that not a single one had caught fire yet.

"Remember when I was hell bent on kidnapping you, Max and Ray before the semi finals of the world championships,"

Kai did not answer and kept the urge to raise his eyebrows in his head; he was to busy looking at photographs of Hiromi with a regretful yearning to wonder what the hell his rival was talking about. She had done so much for him, and he had never done her justice. He couldn't even stop her when she decided to let go of him, he could just watch helplessly like always as another precious person slipped away from his very fingers.

"Everyone else thought it was stupid," Tyson cried in a wistful voice, "but Hiromi, my friend Hiromi – well, actually she thought it was stupid too."

Kai snorted at his friend's words and turned his attention back to the pictures in front of him.

"But she came around eventually," The navy haired boy announced. At this Kai did raise his eyebrows, but the gesture went unseen. "I think," he added undecidedly, "too bad Hiro caught us."

"Perhaps the greatest day of my life," Tyson announced with a sniff staring at a picture he just picked up. All these years worth of memories were making him so miserable. He was losing his friends all over again, Hiromi was gone, and it wouldn't be long enough before the others left too.

Kai's was trying hard to keep his attention directed towards the photographs he was more interested in, but he was getting mildly curious about what Tyson was ranting about. He also wanted to make sure that the boy wouldn't get any snot on the printouts.

"The last reformation of the Bladebreakers after BEGA got defeated." The smile was back on Tyson's face. Kai frowned at his words and ignored the Japanese boy as he placed the picture he was looking at onto _his _pile.

He stared at the photo and felt the ever present guilt in the pit of his stomach increase tenfold. He turned his interest back towards other, more optimistic photographs. Slowly he was going through each thought provoking memory in the form of snapshots. Tyson on the other hand was shuffling through the pictures in his region, looking for note worthy ones.

"Ah, little chibis in Russia," he smiled warmly, placing a few pictures on the top of the pile. "That's where you and Hiromi first met; the original beginning of the Bladebreakers." He paused to look at Kai. "There you are," he pointed at the few pictures currently on top of his side of the pile. "There's 'Romi. You two look so cute."

Out of the blue the room started to blur and both boys held their head in their hands to stop the dizziness. The room was spinning and the pictures were getting lost from their mind.

"Wow," Tyson muttered shaking his head and blinking to focus on his surroundings.

Kai shook his head to clear his unsteady mind. What the hell had just happened? He looked around to check if something was amiss, but nothing, everything was in place giving him the feel of normalcy. He looked down at the table, his eyes landing on the pictures to see they were exactly the same as well.

He breathed an inaudible sigh in relief until his eye landed on a partially hidden photo covered with sheets of other photos of that fateful Russian night from back when he was six.

"What the heck?" he stared in confusion. The picture of children in the playground with Hiromi and him on opposite sides of the place was not what he remembered it to be. He might have lost his memories in the abbey, but he had gained them eventually, and he knew for certain that Hiromi was not being bullied in the park that day.

Something was not right, and Kai had an urge to call Hiromi to make sure if she was alright. What the hell was going on?

* * *

><p>All the kids in the playground were assembled at one point near the jungle Jims scooted together. The little Japanese girl from before was seated in one corner and cowering in fear as one of the roguish boys from before, the thin one with the purple hair was pulling her hair from behind every few minutes, while the other two were talking about <em>crushing little Hiromi Tachibana's spirit<em>.

She didn't want to be here! She didn't like Russia, she didn't like being away from her parents, she didn't like being left alone, and she certainly didn't like being all alone in Russia without her parents, in a park where no one wanted to be her friend at the mercy of these mean kids. Her lips were trembling and tears were at the brink of her eyes again.

"Okay everyone," the security guard in front of them called out in Russian. "Say, cheese."

"Cheese," the whole group of children called out. One blinding flash later exactly at the moment when all three no-longer-men were pulling at Hiromi's hair, the picture was taken. The kids began to disperse around the snow covered park and Hiromi was the first one to run away tears streaming down her face almost running over a blue haired boy in midst of getting away from three nasty kids who were hot on her heals laughing mockingly at her.

The blue haired boy steadied himself and looked up to see who it was who had pushed him; all he had seen was a blur of brown. He frowned and his eyebrows scrunched together as he saw a little brown haired girl running away haphazardly. He was small boy of barely age six, but he had been to Japan enough times with his mother and father to recognize a Japanese girl when he'd see one. The crying girl was certainly not from Russia like him.

What he saw next made his blood boil. Three impish kids were running after her laughing and pointing. He didn't know why, but a protective feeling rose in him. And he decided he should at least go and see if the little girl was alright.

Annoyed at the prospect he began scanning the vast open ground for the brown haired girl. His parents just had to leave him at a park alone, what the hell did they mean that he needed to learn to socialize more. He was barely six; he was fine alone just like he was.

Now where'd the Japanese brat disappear off to?

* * *

><p>Trying to see what was going on inside the fenced from across the street towards the direction of the park was Doctor Kay whose patience was at the edge of on its last legs. "Ugh!" Kay groaned "How long can it take to crush the spirit of a five year old?"<p>

A time stream swirl appeared and Hiromi jumped out, on her feet this time. Kay standing a few feet in front of her grinning maliciously was the first thing she saw. A groan slipped from her mouth. This was what she was asking the future Zeo-3000-robot-thing-y, how the hell was she supposed to stop these people when she couldn't even blade!

Well, here goes nothing; shaking her head, she took a few steps forward towards the doctor. "This is low even for you, Kay,"

"No, not my idea," Doctor Kay leered, "I'd go lower."

Hiromi kept her senses alert and glared at the woman in front of her. She wasn't sure what she was going to do. She had enough pride not to get into a brawl with a woman almost twice her age in the middle of a street.

"You like time travel, cheerleader?" Kay mocked walking forward, taking an offensive fighting stance. "Allow me to knock you into the next century."

Okay, this was it! Who cared that Kay was an almost middle aged woman? She was not living down the cheerleader comment, not anymore. She had not been up for more than thirty six hours, working her ass off just to be told off because she was a non-blader in a blading team. "Allow me to make you history," she growled. With those last seething words, spat out vindictively at Kay, Hiromi jumped, she'd show them what she and her cheerleading skills were made off. And a cat fight that Enrique would have flown all the way from Italy for began.

* * *

><p>Hiromi had managed to give a slip to the mean boys and made her way to a slightly isolated part of the park where only a few kids were playing. She was standing on a part of the pavement which was covered by shuttering, and thus clear, of any form of snow. She was playing with a ball she had found on the ground. She was enjoying herself and had almost forgotten about the rude boys from before.<p>

As if on queue Boris showed up behind her and snatched the ball from her hands. Oh, how he was enjoying tormenting this girl who had handed him so many embarrassing defeats in the future along with her friends. This was years' worth of revenge.

"Huh?" Hiromi asked in confusion. "Hey! Give it! It was my turn!"

"Oh it was your turn? Boris asked, looking clearly apologetic. "We had no idea." He held out the ball to Hiromi, "Here," he told her.

Hiromi pouted sheepishly. "Thanks," she mumbled extending her hand to take the ball from the boy in front of her..

"Psych!" Boris mocked pulling the ball away.

The other two boys scooted over to the purple haired man and together the three ganged around Hiromi laughing and trying to pull her hair once more and teasing her with the ball.

"Leave me alone! It's my turn!" Hiromi stomped a foot on the concrete floor. "Taking turns is the basic foundation of preschool! The jungle law of daycare is behind us! We have structure, we have rules!"

He blinked at the ranting girl. What the hell was wrong with this girl, what was she doing? And why the hell had he decided to jump in a fight that was clearly not his?

Kai had been watching the scene unfold in front of him. When he finally found the Japanese girl he saw that she was giggling and playing with a ball on her own. He found no reason to anymore since she was fine and safe on her own, but he decided to stick around just in case. It seemed he had done the right thing.

The thin purple haired boy with the oddly pale complexion pushed the girl, while the other purple haired kid threw the ball at her. The three of them started laughing as they watched the girl get up, her face started growing red and trembling.

That was the last straw. These kids had no right to be hurting the little girl, particularly when it seemed clear she was not from here. Cowards, getting amusement out of picking on people smaller than their own size…!

"I'm warning you!" the girl was trying to sound severe, but her voice was cracking in fear and embarrassment as she took further steps away from the mean boys. "I have an imaginary friend, and she's huge! Dranzer!"

Kai chuckled at her naiveté, or would stupidity be a better word. An imaginary friend named, Dranzer, huh? Wait – wasn't that the name of his dad's bit beast? How did this little girl know about that?

Okay, this was clearly getting out of hand. Kai shook his head in annoyance; first an early morning confrontation with his grandfather's creepy friend, Boris, and being compelled to train with him for an hour when he was going down for breakfast with his mum. And now these jokers, one of them suspiciously looked as though he could be Boris's son. "Hey bullies," he called out, determined to get this over and done with as soon as possible.

The three should-have-been-middle-aged-men turned their head towards the sound. Zagart and Gideon went wide eyed. Boris however was smirking. "Well, well," he drawled in a voice uncharacteristic for a six year old, "If it isn't _the _Kai Hiwatari?"

Kai was caught off guard by how they knew his name, but he ignored it, maintaining his stance in front of the bullies as they ganged towards them. He smirked inwardly; they didn't know that how often he was trained in physical fighting for the past year with his grandfather's creepy friend. Now to see if his mum and dad were right about learning to defend one's self coming useless in life.

The six-year-old boy's eyes lighted with an all too familiar fire reflecting the flames of Dranzer in his eyes. "Step away from her, and pick on someone on your size!"

Hiromi saw as the boy she had ran past a while ago standing a few feet away from her, defending her. The three boys who had moved away from her and ganged up around the blue haired boy moved further close to him still laughing derisively. Hiromi closed her eyes waiting for the poor boy who was obtuse enough to stand up again three kids get beaten into pulp. She knew she should have run away, but she couldn't however take not witnessing what happened to, the poor boy that had been nice enough to try and defend her.

A few seconds later she finally cracked an eye open, but, to see the blue haired Russian boy standing in front of her without even a scratch on his face. The three bullies were running away in the distance screaming something that sounded like _Kay_. Her eyes widened and she stared at the pale boy in front of her who was looking at her sheepishly twiddling with his fingers.

"Thank you," she mumbled, looking at him just as sheepishly. He actually got rid of those mean boys for her; he didn't get beat up. Hiromi felt embarrassed at her own inability to protect herself. She was angry at her weakness, and determined that she would never let anything like this happen again.

And so began the resolution that led to little Hiromi Tachibana ending up beating quite a number of people over the years who had the misfortune of crossing her path, Tyson being on top of the list from the moment she arrived in Japan. What a beautiful start, to a beautiful friendship?

* * *

><p>"Kay!" Boris called out as he and the other men ran from the six year old version of his former-student. Oh, it wasn't a defect of his memory, toddler Kai really was a menace, no wonder he turned the abbey upside down when Voltaire first forced him in. "Help!" he shouted again, he had suffered the young Hiwatari boy's wrath one time, he was not going through the ordeal again.<p>

"The boy's a savage!" Gideon called out to Boris who was running behind him.

"Boris what did you do to him in the abbey?" Zagart stopped suddenly in mid-step, causing Gideon and Boris to run into him. He looked down to see Kay on the floor in the middle of their path rubbing her head.

"Oh no," he gasped looking in a direction opposite to the others, "she's here!"

Boris cringed at the words and looked around frantically. "The little brat?"

"The big brat," Kay piped up from the ground accompanied with a groan.

Hiromi wasn't sure what urged her to do it, but she was pissed and her adrenaline was high, and ran towards the three middle aged world renowned criminals standing around Doctor Kay; with no clue of what she'd do when she caught up to them. Sure, she got rid of Kay, but she was just a scientist, Gideon and Zagart she could probably handle too. Boris, meh, she was not so sure. "Hey guess what?" she shouted, "Free swim in the time stream is over!"

Doctor Kay's lips curled. "Mission not accomplished, I presume."

"I had a lovely nap near the monkey bars," Gideon remembered her almost wistfully.

"We're regrouping." He announced taking Kay's hand and pulling her from the ground in one go.

"Fear not, gentlemen," Zagart smirked, lifting the statue he'd been carrying this whole time. "Time is on our side."

"Drop it" Hiromi ordered, knowing well enough they wouldn't comply. If only she could get to them on time. She increased her speed, but at the very moment, a time stream swirl appears underneath the villains and they jumped in. The vortex disappeared just as fast as it opened, the moment Hiromi reached to jump in, and she hit the ground instead of the nothingness she had expected.

She groaned in pain and rubbed her head. "Ow." She might have landed in the snow, but it still hurt pretty bad, there was hard floor underneath the layer of snow after all; at least she hadn't hit the icy patch a few feet ahead of her.

Another time stream swirl appeared behind Hiromi, and Zeo 3000 appeared in front of her.

"Hiromi, have you stopped the Supreme One?"

"No," she answered. "And they escaped with the time travel statue."

"Well, have a cookie." He told her in defeat. "They're peanut butter," he added with a grin, handing a cookie to the young girl.

"Thanks," Hiromi said awkwardly.

"I will return to the future and scan the time stream," he told her and walked towards the swirl. "We must determine where the Supreme One will strike next. Can I drop you off in the early 21st century?"

Hiromi shook her head staring in the direction opposite to where Zeo was. "No thanks," she smiled knowingly, I'll just wait here in the good old days."

The robot nodded and walked into the time swirl, disappearing off the very next second along with the vortex. Hiromi walked off toward the fence bordering around the park. Leaning against the fence, she smiled, as she watched the younger version of herself and Kai meet, on different circumstances she remembered them to.

Little Kai was walking off away from Hiromi, he picked up the ball which Boris had disposed off and began walking towards the little girl. He had been right in assuming the girl was Japanese, because it was only when he spoke in Japanese did she understand him.

"Did that one kid have an implanted red eye?" Hiromi asked bemusedly, still feeling awkward talking to the boy who had helped her out.

The young Russian boy handed the five year old Hiromi the ball. "You're weird," the younger version of Kai muttered; even as a kid who hadn't even been to the abbey, his aversion and discomfort towards companionship was apparent on his childish features. "But, I like you."

The brown haired little girl said, "thank you," as she took the ball from him. "I'm Hiromi," she mumbled awkwardly looking at the ground instead of the boy's face.

The older Hiromi smiled as she watched the scene unfold from across the border of the park. It was nice to be, back in the good old days, watching the little version of Kai and her self it was helping her figure out her priorities. She was sure now that she'd be totally fine no matter what the beyblading world threw at her.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I wrote this, and quarter of the next chapter, in a time span of 24 hours, and I do have a life, hence I'm not writing all the time. I still wonder how I did it.<strong>

**Yeah. I decided that Kai and Hiromi had met when they were kids. :P But since Kai lost his memory, he never remembered till much later. And Hiromi just well forgot. xP**

**BTW. As for Kai knowing Japanese, with his grandpa being Russian, and him being in Japan so much later in the series, I think he would no both as a kid. I mean being a kid doesn't really matter if your family is from two different places. :P**

**1995, because, Kai's supposed to have been born in 1989, then he'll be 6 years old in 1995. :P**

**Some reviews would be nice, no? No? Oh well. ;P Thank you to _Dead-bY-n0w _and_ Kawaii-Chibi-Kai_ for reviewing chapter 4. :)**

**06:15 p.m. 29th August, 2012.**


	6. Where the Past and Present Collide

_**Chapter 6: Where the Not-so-Distant Past and Present Collide**_

A flickering vortex opened in the street of the Granger dojo not too far along the road from the said house. The three world dominators and Doctor Kay stepped out of the portal and into the streets of the town. They were lucky that no one had seen their arrival, since the street was never completely empty like this.

They had to find their way to a more inconspicuous location. Kay was the only one to realize this and she started stomping her way forward into the not-busy street immediately, searching for some abandoned alley or warehouse to hide in.

"Where are we, Boris?" Gideon asked, as he and the other men followed Kay, analyzing their surroundings.

Doctor Zagart hissed, "It reeks of Bakuten," scanning his surroundings with contempt.

"Indeed." Boris stated in an intrigued voice, walking away swiftly from the crowded part of town, the others hot on his heals. "The Bakuten of the not too distant past, to be precise, the day the Bladebreakers officially _re_-formed on their own thanks to little Hiromi."

Gideon sighed, his head hanging down, as he followed the other men and Kay, further and further into the more isolated parts of town. "Back before the bubble burst."

* * *

><p>There was an awkward silence in the room as fourteen year old Tyson Granger, Kai Hiwatari and Hiromi Tachibana sat on the floor of the Granger dojo.<p>

"Okay, so I contacted both Ray and Max," Kenny mentioned entering the room, laptop in his hand and feet moving gingerly to prevent tripping since he wasn't really watching where he was going. "They'll be coming back to Japan as soon as they can."

"That's great, Chief," Hiromi grinned. She patted the space beside her gesturing Kenny to sit before he fell hitting his head or damaging poor Dizzy. The boy took the offered seat and continued typing relentlessly on his laptop.

Tyson let out a frustrated scream and held his head in his hands. Kenny finally looked up from his laptop, Kai lazily opened his eyes and Hiromi twitched in annoyance.

"What, Tyson?" Kai demanded, glaring at the boy sitting in front of him.

"Don't you get it?" Tyson shouted looking at Kai. "It'll be a weak before Max and Ray get here! We need to do something in the mean time, those guys who defeated us, they are just running about rampant."

Kai's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I had a draw," he corrected with finality in his tone. How many times would he have to have this conversation with Tyson before it went through his thick skull?

"Whatever." Tyson shrugged his shoulders. "Ideas, anyone?"

Hiromi could notice that Kai was clearly losing his patience. The Russian boy was sitting near her in his school uniform with his green jacket spread across his lap and the sleeves of his dress shirt folded up to his elbows, he looked more-than-mildly attractive to Hiromi, but she banished the thought just he banished each of her attempts at friendship and even civil introduction.

She had learnt a few things about the boy in the few days she had known him. He pretended not to care for his friends, but his eyes reflected the intensity with which he watched over them. He spoke little, but when he did, his words were worth listening to. He didn't like being captain of this team, but when he decided to take charge at moment's when it was necessary to, he was a leader worth following. Most blatant of all, he was short tempered, and though he knew how to mostly knew how to keep his anger in check, when when provoked to extremes he lashed out without mercy, or concern for anything or anyone.

Hiromi was pretty sure this was going to be one of those moments, with how Kai was fisting his hands on his side and how there was a very familiar fire igniting in his eyes. Tyson would be toast – again – very soon, and Hiromi was in no mood to pick up the pieces.

"Maybe you guys should take part in a rookie tournament?" she suggested awkwardly. She didn't have much clue about how things went down in the beyblading world, but she wanted to distract both Kai and Tyson right now, and the proposition didn't seem half bad even to her.

"You guys did meat that X guy in a rookie tournament," Kai mused, his body back in its calm and normal stance. "Maybe it could work."

Hiromi grinned at Kai. "We're bound to find some information on them there. Besides it'd be a good chance for you guys to get an idea of the completion."

"Is there any tournament in the near future?" Kai asked looking at the girl in front of him. Finally, someone, with a head screwed on top of their shoulders, he could talk to.

The girl in question blinked. "I'm not sure, but I'm certain there would some posters up in school if there is," she paused for a second to chew on her lips. "I can probably check when I go to school tomorrow."

Kai nodded and closed his eyes once more. Glad to have this discussion over and done with.

Tyson was staring between Kai and Hiromi his mouth gaping, he couldn't understand what was going on, the two of them were talking all chummy with each, well as chummy as Kai could get. This was certainly interesting, he was definitely going to have a lengthy discussion with both of them about this.

He grinned internally at the thought. "If we're taking part in a tournament, I'll be the one blading," he announced standing up and grinning down at the rest of the occupants of the room.

Hiromi rolled her eyes. "Sure, Tyson," she told him in a humoring tone. "Now go train outside, while I sit here in peace."

"You got it, Romi," Tyson mock-saluted before running out of the room to get his blading gear, pausing for a second to contemplate over Hiromi's words, not very convinced by the tone of them, but shrugging them off and continuing anyway.

Hiromi giggled as she watched Tyson run off to start training, puzzled by her unusually _not angry_ tone. On her other side, Kai couldn't help but smirk at the Japanese girl's antic of getting rid of the loudmouthed world champion.

* * *

><p>In the bushes outside the dojo Doctor Kay took the binoculars away from her eyes and swearing colorfully made her way out of the thorny plants, and began stomping over to the nearest alleyway. Who did these men think she was; a lowly sidekick? Making her do menial chores like this, Boris was the useless imbecile who should be doing crap like this. One day, one day she would show them what she was made of, and then they would regret underrating her.<p>

The click of the young scientist's heals was the only noise other than the scuttling of rats and the dripping of sewerage water in the shady alleyway. Kay continued making her way deeper into the narrow passageway. "Tyson and Kai just agreed with her about taking part in a tournament." She muttered nonchalantly as she arrived where the three stooges were.

"So, what is your plan Boris?" Doctor Zagart demanded skeptically, narrowing his eyes at his fellow world dominator. His patience at the man's profane plans was running thinner by the moment. "Do enlighten us."

"When young Hiromi Tachibana goes on her first trip with the Bladebreakers," Boris stopped dramatically, a shrewd smile on his face, "we'll make sure she gets humiliated beyond beliefs by her precious teammates. This time her spirit will surely be crushed!"

Gideon sweat dropped at the other purple headed man's words. "We tried crushing her spirit." He told him logically. "Can we not simply crush her?"

Zagart shrugged in annoyance. "I'm with the mad scientist on this one."

Boris ignored their words and turned himself into a preteen using the Juvinator. Paying no heed to the seething looks filled with annoyed hatred he was getting, he began examining his image in a puddle on the floor with child like ecstasy. After a few moments of inspection, he turned to the other occupants of the alley grinning like the madman he was.

"No-no-no, just listen," he finally reasoned, moving his hands haphazardly in the confined location. "We'll infiltrate her life as fellow young teens."

Doctor Kay's mouth literally hung in revulsion. "Lame," she spat out, turning around walking away from the man with the Juvinator and his juvenile behavior. She really was really desperate for working for these dim bulbs. She had a head screwed on top of her neck, and here she was wasting her brain and her skills on these pathetic failures. A walk would certainly do her good, she thought as she headed towards the exit of the dingy alley.

"Kay," the young Boris whined in an infatuated voice that made her cringe; she turned around to look at the men on the street. "Have you forgotten the talk we had about hurting with our words?"

Fisting her hands at her side Kay turned around stomped her way back to the three men. Snatching the damned gadget from Boris's hand who yelled a "hey!" in protest, she converted him back into an adult, well the kid he was in the body of an adult. Before the purple haired world dominator could snatch the device back from Kay, she threw the outlandish contraption and watched in sadistic satisfaction as it landed in the nearest dumpster with an audible thud.

Boris watched the scene unfold with mouth-hanging indignation and it was only seconds later when he was about to go over to the dumpster to retrieve his precious invention that a bird flying along with its flock in the sky above pooped on it, just like one did on him many years ago after the Justice Five tournament.

He watched with his lips quivering as his prized invention went to the birds thanks to that smart-alecky Kay; she thought she was so smart, just because she was the best in the class and actually worked her way to get a doctorate degree. Hmph. He was the world renowned evil genius mastermind, take that, Kay!

Said woman made his way over to him once more. "Listen, you're better off with their approach." She told him gritting together her teeth in restrained exasperation, gesturing each word with her hands. "If you can find a way to_ crush_ little 'Romi, her spirit won't really be an issue."

With those last words, the successful doctor turned on her heals and stalked out of the alley cursing profoundly leaving the rest of the three staring at her retreating back.

"Gentlemen," Zagart turned his attention from Kay, and called out inattentively, to acquire the attention of his collaborators present with him.

Gideon and Boris pulled themselves from staring at their female companion as she walked out of the alley looking as delectable as always with her knee length dresses and the even shorter doctor's coat and turned their attention to Zagart.

Ignoring them now that he had their undivided interest pursed his lips and looked thoughtfully around him for a moment. "Legends of a long-gone mystical cult speak of a being that would be exactly what we need." He told them absently, activating the time swirl. "If you need me," he paused to smirk at the other two men who were staring at him dumbly. "I'll be in the Third Century, Demon Rock Island."

Boris scrunched his nose in annoyance and distaste. "Is this another temple for the bit beasts that ruled the world?"

"More Bladebreaker bit beasts, Zagart?" Boris whined hanging his head in defeat.

"Not at all," the doctor smirked, "on contraire the dark counterpart of the Bladebreaker's bit beasts." Those finals word followed by a chuckle and he stepped into the whirlpool hurtling away in the realm of time and space.

The vortex disappeared and Gideon turned to look skeptically at Boris.

"So what was the brat's first tournament as a Bladebreaker?" Gideon mumbled in an uninterested voice. All this mystical legends mumbo jumbo was getting stupid. They were men of science, and they were resorting to suck poppycock. They should have stuck to stealing bit beasts and using them to recreate their own.

"Some local tournament right after Kai decided to join the team again after _your _proposal for battle, to that old fool Dickenson." Boris answered with an underhandedly satisfied look evident on his face. He was planning something, something which he was convinced of being foolproof.

Ooh, they were going to end up in jail again, Gideon could foretell they would. He hung his head in resignation and began following Boris who was practically skipping his way down the street. Now where the hell had Kay disappeared off to? Damn, she was a useless sidekick.

* * *

><p>It was the day of the tournament and Kai, Tyson and Hiromi were in Mr. Dickenson's conference room inside the stadium. They were standing next to his desk in a row as they explained their reasons for having signed up to participate in the tournament.<p>

An assistant was standing behind Mr. Dickenson's chair and regarding the kids with disdain as Tyson and Hiromi tried to convince Mr. Dickenson to let the boy participate in the competition, while Kai regarded his surroundings and the situation at hand with boredom evident in features.

Mr. Dickenson sighed. "Fine," he grunted in anassenting tone. "You can participate, Tyson."

The said boy pumped his fist in the air letting out a triumphant yell. "Thank you," Hiromi squealed in delight from her place between Kai and the jubilant Tyson.

And Kenny thought Mr. Dickenson wouldn't agree!

"Now, kids, enough about this _X_ fellow and his friends," Mr. Dickenson reproached, "Tell me what you've been doing about your tournament match with Doctor B's team."

Kai rolled his eyes and Hiromi and Tyson snickered nervously while the latter also scratched his head. They had totally forgotten about their upcoming matches for which Ray and Max would be flying in. Oh boy, this was going to be hard to get Mr. Dickenson to understand.

* * *

><p>Outside the conference room waiting impatiently in the hallway were the Boris, Gideon and Doctor Kay waiting for Zagart to return with a means to crush Hiromi Tachibana for good. They were idle for the moment with nothing better to do then complain and pace around.<p>

Boris groaned in impatience. "Where is Zagart?"

"My evil career is so in the toilet," Kay groaned to herself. She was leaning against the wall, and watching the kids and employees by, ignoring expertly, the annoying men impatiently pacing around her.

"It's over," she told them, running a hand through her ebony hair. "That irrational myth addicted doctor blew it!"

"He has the power of time travel, and he's late," Gideon complained slamming a fist against the wall.

A time swirl opened and Zagart stepped out looking oddly satisfied. "Calm yourself, Gideon," he smirked. "I have returned and I've brought a little piece of the past with me."

Boris and Gideon looked curiously at Zagart who was standing in front of the still-open vortex. Even Kay looked mildly interested as she stared wearily at her old boss who was looking quite delighted.

* * *

><p>There was a loud crash as the four giannt sculptures in which the spirits of the dark bit beast were incased on Demon Rock Island crashed through the wall. The wall crumbled and the undestroyed-bricks and debris flew across the room. The three Bladebreakers who were standing next to the table flew back slightly at the sheer impact of the blow and the wreckage and dust flying clouding the room.<p>

A frightened scream escaped Hiromi's mouth when she felt the impact of the enormous explosion and felt herself being pushed back into the wall by Kai along with Tyson who was on his other side.

Her head collided with the wall, and she closed her eyes waiting for the dust and flying debris to clear off. She could still feel Kai's arm against her stomach and she waited for the noise to clear off. What the hell had just happened?

After a while when the noise cleared off and Kai's arm slipped from it's defensive position on front of her, Hiromi reopened her eyes to see four giant sized statues in front of her.

"Oh lord," Tyson took slow wide eyed steps towards the rock figurines that had just crashed their way through the wall. "They look just like our bit beasts."

The Dragoon statue slashed its tail at Tyson all of a sudden, but he ducked just in time and was saved from being thrown across the room. Getting up from the floor Tyson watched frozen with fear as the statue glided along with the others, towards Kai and Hiromi who were still pushed against the wall.

"That is sick and wrong!"

With those last screamed words Tyson started running away from the statues of the Sacred Four bit beasts out of which the Dragoon one began gliding after him its orders being to crush any Bladebreaker in site in return of his and the other sacred bit beast's from their stone prisons.

Near the nearly shattered desk hiding were the BBA chairman and his secretary. "Mr. Dickenson," the assistant called out, and the BBA chairman turned his attention from the turmoil of his office he was gawking at to look at the man standing next to him. "I suggest we find a place to hide."

Mr. Dickenson blinked then nodded. "Well said." Together the two men began running away from the line of fire and towards the closet to hide.

Kai and Hiromi were frozen next to each other at their place against the wall as the three giant rock statues approached them. Draciel and Drigger on foot and Dranzer flapping its wings menacingly as they slowly approached the two Bladebreakers. _This is it_ both of them thought simultaneously.

Suddenly all three stone monsters stopped in their stride. Boris walked over in front of the two eight graders who were gaping in fear at the spectacle in front of them.

"Hiromi Tachibana," Boris stated with a smirk ignoring Kai next to her. "Meet the Stone statues that imprisoned the evil counterparts of the Bladebreaker's bit beasts," he paused for a second his lips curling into a cruel grin. "Or should I say your doom."

"What the hell, Boris?" Kai hissed at the man that separated him and Hiromi from their, well, doom. "You're supposed to be in jail along with Voltaire."

The Russian criminal looked at the younger version of Kai with an annoyed look. "Shut up, brat, I'm not here for you this time, you're completely useless to me now."

Kai let out another hiss. "Wait –" Hiromi interrupted, "you two know each other? And what are these monsters."

Boris smirked. "Oh, you don't know yet." He smirked amusedly. "Young Kai and I, we go way back. As for the monsters, they are the cages of the dark counter parts of the mystical beasts that your friends all control."

Hiromi blinked in confusion, her eyebrows furrowed, while Kai glared at the men in front of them. Unintentionally he had moved slightly forward so that he was partially hovering in front of the Japanese girl keeping her from being in direct line of Boris and the statues.

Boris regarded the children in front of him one last time, before he leered, "Attack," and moved out of the way the second the command slipped from his lips.

Kai cursed loudly the moment he heard Boris's command. The bit beasts were still at least ten feet away from him and the girl, and if the girl had luck, 'cause he surely didn't, they could probably make it out of harm's way in time alive. Within a second he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the side pushing her down with as much force he could. She let out a yelp as the two of them hit the floor momentarily out of harm's way.

"Balcov has turned our bit beasts against us," Tyson was shouting as he dashed past them, continuing running around the enormous circular conference room as Dark Dragoon glided after him.

Kai and Hiromi got back on their feet as fast as they could and ran in separate directions. "What did I ever do to you?" Hiromi asked turning her head towards the man she recognized as Boris as she backed away from the bit beasty thingies.

The man in question turned his smirking face back to Hiromi who was almost crawling away from Drigger and Dranzer. "Nothing yet, but you will," he told her.

"Yes," Zagart agreed from across the room, where he was standing near the smashed wall. "In time because of you, each of us shall be handed humiliating defeats."

Gideon's lips turned into a cruel smile as he looked up at Hiromi from the wall he was casually leaning against. "And it's a terrible feeling being foiled so many times."

At that moment a time swirl opened next to Hiromi and the Hiromi from the present time jumped out barely landing on her feet and swaying to maintain her balance. "I'm here," she panted looking at the disappearing vortex, "don't worry, Zeo 3000, I'm here on time," she paused to draw in a breath and look around her. "Or not," she added as she watched the whirlpool disappear.

Boris growled in frustration standing at the sideline out of the line of fire. "Hiromi Tachibana."

Gideon's mouth was hanging in indignation. "Times two!"

The statues of Dranzer and Draciel tried to smash them, but both Hiromis jumped away right on time landing on the ground in front of Gideon's feet. "Ugh," they both groaned closing their eyes to clear their hand in an eerily similar manner which would have seemed creepy to anyone who didn't know they were the same people.

"Anybody want to explain any of this to me?" The younger Hiromi asked from the floor.

"I'm you from the future," Hiromi answered with a nervous laugh.

"Okay, this is a 9.7 on the weirdness scale," the present-Hiromi commented raising her head and looking at her older self who was lying next to her.

The older Hiromi gave a kind smile. She wanted to chuckle at the naiveté of her younger self who had no clue what she was getting herself into by becoming friends with Tyson and Kenny. Though she had the chance right now, she would never even think of changing anything. "Oh you'll get used to it, trust me," she advised, before adding, "Look out –" and pushing her younger counter part back on the floor.

The two got back on their feet soon as the rock Dranzer flew over their heads. They started running in the opposite direction as the giant phoenix began flying in their direction once more with the tiger pouncing with just as much speed.

Tyson was running across the room holding his head in his hand, crying, "Ahh! Dragoon is abandoning me!" It was a miracle that he hadn't been crushed by any of the incarcerating statues of the evil counter parts of the Bladebreaker's bit beast. He was trying to catch a glimpse of the girl that had just appeared, because that vortex thing she came out was the coolest thing he'd ever seen. And what was that she said, she was _Hiromi _from the future, cool!

"Ouch," he moaned as he bumped into something. "Kai," he exclaimed, as he looked up to see his captain. "Did you see that, that vortex thing-y that opened up in thin air and that lady just walked out like of it like thin air! And she said she was Hiromi, dude!"

"Shut up," Kai growled glaring at Tyson who had bumped into him as he dodged Dark Draciel who was approaching them with rapid speed. "Stop running around all haphazardly, you idiot."

"One last thing," Tyson begged his expression jumpy.

Kai's eye twitched in annoyance. "What?"

"Run!" Tyson shouted and grabbed Kai by the back of his jacket as Dragoon's tail swung past them ready to wipe them into the across the floor. Together the two of them began running out of the two bit beast's reach.

"Well, Zagart, I must admit," Gideon started, his tone amused as he watched Zagart's new pets wreak havoc in the auditorium. "I _had_ my doubts."

Zagart snorted at Gideon's words and watched with approval his new pets wreak havoc in the giant auditorium and the Bladebreakers.

* * *

><p>"This actually seems to be working," Doctor Kay murmured to herself as she watched the statuettes destroy the Bladebreakers. Just as she was about to look for a nice spot to lounge in and enjoy the show, when a hand grabbed her arm from behind and pulled her in through a door into another room.<p>

"Wow," she shouted, going wide eyed, as she felt herself being pulled backwards. She stumbled as the hand let go of her arm and looked up to see a woman looking exactly like her. She felt her anger rise and she was about to lash out at the woman in front of her, but before she could, the woman spoke up.

"Listen closely," she started, but got cut off almost instantly.

"I can't believe this," Doctor Kay growled flailing her hands in the air. "I have told Doctor Zagart a thousand times, no clones!"

The supposed-clone rolled her eyes. "I am not a clone," she claimed.

Doctor Kay raised an eyebrow. "You're not?" she asked suspiciously.

"I'm you from the future," the other woman stated calmly.

Kay groaned rubbing her head. "Oh! I hate time travel," she complained staring at the woman in front of her. She could notice now that the woman in front of her was actually not a clone; there were subtle differences between herself and the woman, which she had noticed before.

"Listen, we don't have a lot of time. Okay, actually we do –" she paused to correct herself, "Well, we will."

Kay stared at her with boredom. "When you wanna make sense, just let me know."

"Grab the time statue," the older Kay instructed her younger self emphasizing on each word.

The younger doctor arched a well shaped eyebrow. "Why?"

Older Kay looked at her younger counter part with annoyance clear on her mature features. Damn, she was lippy when she was younger. "You need the time statue," she gritted out each word.

"Can't I just use yours?" Kay shrugged.

"No, this is mine," she shook her head, moving the idol out of reach of her younger counter part. "Okay, well actually it's your's too – I mean… well, it's the one you're gonna steal so technically –"

The younger Kay's eyes twitched in annoyance. "If you need me," she stated in a mocking tone. "I'll be in there watching Tachibana get crushed."

Just as she was turning around a hand placed itself on her shoulder and she paused. "Trust me, this whole Sacred Four stone mural deal is gonna go south," The woman behind her clarified. "So, when it does, make sure you get that time statue."

The hand was removed from her shoulder and she blinked.

The words that the older woman had been rambling to her were, finally beginning to make some sense in her mind. She could sense a plan begin to formulate in her mind based on the information that had been provided to her. She turned around to face the woman from the future once more. "Run through this again for me, will you?" she asked and saw the older version of herself smirk at her.

* * *

><p>Zagart watched the chaos unleashing in front of him with deep satisfaction as his enemies were getting crushed. "Hiromi Tachibana can not win this battle," he claimed with confidence in his tone. He had been right along crushing the damned cheerleader would be so much easier than crushing her spirit. If she could tolerate a cruel and heartless friend like Hiwatari, and survive in the world of blading when she wasn't a blader, her spirit seemed pretty un-crushable.<p>

One more vortex opened once more and Zeo 3000 stepped out in fighting stance. "Wrong, doctor," he exclaimed, moving out away from the mouth of the swirl. "Help has arrived!"

Another person from the future stepped inside the what-was-a-conference-room. "What is going on?" Kai asked in annoyance as he stared with mild interest at his annihilated surroundings.

Zeo 3000 answered, "Hiromi Tachibana needs you!" and with that short lived explanation he leapt back into the time swirl disappearing along with it, leaving Kai back in year 2001 as he cursed languidly at everything in sight.

Boris regarded Kai with dry amusement on his features. "Oh please, as if the second best could stop us." he laughed watching as Dark Dranzer and Dark Dragoon tried to crush both Hiromis, while Dark Draciel and Dark Drigger dealt with the younger Kai and Tyson.

Gideon smirked. "What possible help could the washed up old world champion be?"

Kai ignored the edgy words of the two men. He had been mocked over the years enough to not pay any mind to any words which were thrown at him. He was the underdog, he'd learned to make best of it. There was no way he was ever going down.

He spotted his Japanese friend and her younger version running away from two rock statues which looked oddly like the ones in which the dark bit beasts were incased. "Hiromi," he shouted in fear as his eyes widened.

Both Hiromis barely avoided being smashed by Dranzer flying directly at them from one side and Dragoon's giant tail swiped past them from another.

"Kai," the older Hiromi shouted her voice a mixture of anxiousness and relief. The familiarity in her tone made the younger girl wonder how well her future self was acquainted with Tyson's Russian friend. "How did you –" her words got cut off as the rock statues which confined the evil counter parts of the bit beasts of her two closest friends attacked once more. She pushed herself and the her younger version out of harms way, before turning her attention away from Kai once more and on her own safety.

"Damn it," Kai hissed and launched Dranzer, shouting, "Dranzer, get to Hiromi," before starting to run across the room to where the Japanese girl was. He had not expected to end up five years into the past and having to defend himself against the stone murals that imprisoned the dark bit beasts when the Zeo like thing zapped itself onto the roof of the dojo. If he hadn't mentioned Hiromi being already stuck here, there was no way he would have agreed to come.

On the other side of the room were the Tyson and Kai of this time, watching the older versions of their friends. "That's the future you?" The fourteen year old Tyson asked his time's Kai while he gaped at the older Kai who was now talking with a critical expression on his face to the older Hiromi standing in close proximity of her his hand gripping her wrist as the two of them moved back slowly away from the Dark Draciel and Dark Dragoon that were approaching them.

"I guess," The younger Russian answered absently, too busy watching his older self interact with the older version of Tyson's Japanese friend. Speaking of whom, why the hell had he jumped in the line of fire for someone who was just an acquaintance, what the heck had happened when he had seen Boris approached the girl. And most importantly why was Boris and these other men after her?

Dark Drigger pounced behind both Kai and Tyson and growled loudly. The two boys turned around instantly to see the face of the statuette snarling at them.

"Dude, personal space," Tyson snapped thoroughly annoyed by the situation by now staring at the giant mouth in front of his. "Ahh," he shouted his eyes wide as Drigger opened the massive mouth.

Before the stone cat could take a bite out of his head, Kai who had been staring wide eyed at the statue of his Chinese teammate's bit beast pulled Tyson back by the shirt right in time and the giant cat just sank its teeth into empty air.

Tyson was hyperventilating and running around the room once more being chased by Drigger leaving Kai secure for the moment and giving him a chance to catch up on his breath and sanity of mind.

What the hell was his older selves deal with the Tyson's Japanese friend of that time?

He couldn't imagine himself even being friends with the girl, she was just an acquaintance, and here his older self looked as though he was in _love_ with her or something. The fourteen year old Kai shook his head at the ludicrous thought. Still, this older Kai looked much more interested in the _girl _than doing anything about Boris and these other maniacs. He looked more conversational and it seemed that his priorities had changed much from who he was now.

Hiromi had gestured her younger self to run off to where Tyson and younger Kai were, and she and her time's Kai continued dodging attacks from Draciel and Dragoon giving the younger girl space to run off.

"So," she said distractedly as the two of them took a sharp turn away from Dragoon's slithering tail. "You think it'll work?"

The older Kai grunted as he pulled himself and Hiromi just as Draciel lunged at him. "Worth a try – you distract these two."

Hiromi gave an affirming nod and started moving in the opposite direction irking Draciel and Dragoon to follow her.

The older Kai gave Hiromi a last weary glance and turned to face Dranzer who was involved in battle with the statue that confined her evil half. There were eagle like cries from both Phoenixes and the real Dranzer was engulfed in flames which seemed to be whipping through the entire air cackling like electricity.

Hiromi had suggested a very clever idea. Kai had used Black Dranzer to capture many bit beasts back at the time of the Russian tournament. If he wanted he could still extract bit beasts from their blades. These statues were only alive and running rampant because of the spirits of the dark bit beasts possessing them. If he released the spirits from their imprisonments and trapped them in his blade, then the statues would be useless.

"Dranzer," he shouted letting the memories of the time he was possessed by Black Dranzer engulf him, "Trap the spirits in your blade!"

The moment Kai finished his command there was an ear piercing shriek from Dranzer and the whole room got engulfed with the brightness of the phoenix's flames. All eyes closed as the light made it unbearable for them to continue watching what the guardian of the South was doing.

The fire and flames finally disappeared as Dranzer retreated back into the blade.

Boris, Gideon and Zagart watched with mouths hanging open as the hundreds of years old statues crumbled on the floor in front of their eyes. The smoke cleared off eventually to reveal the statues in rubble on the floor and Dranzer MS spinning on the cracked and splintered floor.

The older Kai called back the blade and flew right into his hand. Hiromi had almost died because of these men, and they'd been doing far too much damage in his personal life for too much of his liking. He watched with narrowed eyes at the three world dominators standing in front of him. He began making his way towards the three men his fingers itching to grip at least one throat.

"Let it go," Hiromi reasoned shaking her head grabbing his left arm gingerly. "Security will be here soon anyways." Kai had all the dark bit beasts under his control and he had used a technique he developed for Black Dranzer, it would be an understatement to say that Hiromi wasn't scared of what Kai might end up doing at the moment with how much dark influence he was under.

Kai's face was objecting for a few seconds before he calmed down at his friend's touch. He sighed in resignation and retreated to stand next to Hiromi handing her his blade. It was better if it was not in his control. He had always been quick to succumb under temptation, Hiromi would keep the spirits safe.

On the other side of the room, the younger Bladebreakers had gathered in one corner and were watching the whole scene with eyes gaping. This was not how they'd expected the tournament to turn out.

_The match! _Tyson's eyes widened as the memory dawned on him. "I _have_ a tournament to attend," he shouted looking at his teammates. "I need to find Kenny!" he announced and with those last words he ran towards the stadium all thoughts of interrogating the older Kai and older Hiromi – who seemed to be rather *cough* intimate *cough* with each other – about a thousand things about the future.

Including if they were dating, he could tell that they were – oh, this was rich, he would never let his time's Kai and Hiromi live it down – leaving his mind as he left both the older and younger versions of Kai and Hiromi staring at his retreating back.

* * *

><p>There's as much chaos towards the back entrance of the stadium as there should be on the front. Police cars were parked everywhere and more of them with sirens blaring were approaching the stadium where the tournament was still going on and Tyson was probably battling.<p>

The younger and older versions of Hiromi sat on a nearby bench avoiding the commotion and trying to get over the awkwardness of being present together.

"Nice to know the blading thing worked," the thirteen year Hiromi told the older version of herself.

"Yeah, as long as you don't start crushing on captain sour pants there," Older Hiromi muttered pointing with her thumb in the direction of Kai.

"Major awkwardness?" the younger girl asked wearily looking at both the older and younger version of Tyson's friend.

Hiromi shrugged and blushed. "Let's just say it's very embarrassing in front of everyone who figured out. And pretty heartbreaking in general."

"Oh," the younger girl mumbled.

A little farther from the two girls were the two Kai-s leaning against the wall, in awkward silence, not knowing what to say, well knowing each other's aversion towards talking.

"So," the fourteen year old Kai broke the silence prying himself from the wall to look at the future version of himself.

"Okay, kid, listen to me." Older Kai ordered his voice weary and clearly distracted. For some reason, younger Kai couldn't fathom, he kept looking in the direction of the Japanese girl who Tyson had brought along with him and the older version of her. "In the future you – I – will act stupid and leave the team and Hiromi –"

"Tyson's friend?" Kai raised an eyebrow.

Kai resisted the urge to groan in annoyance at his shallower and more hardhearted younger counterpart. "Yes, Tyson's team mate, the Japanese girl standing there," he pointed in the direction where his Hiromi and the Hiromi of this time were sitting and talking together. "Don't do that. Trust me, no championship title is worth these people."

"Don't you – _I_ – want to defeat Tyson and be number one anymore?" the fourteen year old Kai asked vindictively, ignoring the soft and apologetic look his older counter part was casting towards the older version of Tyson's friends – err, Hiromi.

Kai looked away from the girl he was staring at almost painfully, and stared at his younger version with a serious look on his older face. "No, I don't." He answered without a second thought, even shocking himself with his abruptness.

"Oh," the younger boy muttered staring at his surroundings, more specifically where the older Kai had been staring at. He didn't want to be world champion in the future. Had he changed that much in the next five years?

On another part of the grounds Mr. Dickenson was talking to the police giving a take on what happened as they arrested the madmen who were behind it. "Officers, take them away," Mr. Dickenson instructed as a policeman walked past him dragging a handcuffed Boris, Gideon and Doctor Zagart towards a police van.

"But you can't leave us here in the past!" Boris protested flailing his chained arms in the air.

Gideon wailed in assessment. "We'll face years of deja vu!"

"This will throw the time stream into chaos!" Boris warned getting inside the van.

The police officer rolled his eyes. "Yeah, like I haven't heard that one before." And he proceeded with loading the three men into the back of the van and shutting the door behind them.

Just at that moment Doctor Kay stepped behind from a police car, the time statue gripped firmly in her hand and a triumphant smirk in place on her face. "Hmm, going to prison sure sounds like a waste of time," she mused smirking, activating a vortex behind her. "Of course, with this I can waste all the time I want."

Both Kais and Hiromis and the three chained villains staring out from the glassed windows of the van went wide eyed. Older Hiromi and Kai got in a position to run, "The time effigy!" they both growled in unison.

Before they anyone could even move from their position, Kay spared one final glance to her captive bosses muttering, "later, losers," before jumping in the time stream leaving an agitated older Kai and an absolutely livid older Hiromi behind with their younger counterparts staring at them quite in confusion.

The three world dominators however were beginning to be driven off into the sunset in the ratty police van.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Well, hope you enjoyed. :P Finally, over and done with the past. lol Review, if you can.<strong>

**Thank you to Kawaii-Chibi-Kai and Okami1001 for reviewing the last chapter. **

**08:35 p.m. 1st September, 2012.**


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